The Fiersome Chronicles
by GuardianDragon98
Summary: Zenna is one of Berk's best young warriors. But of all the people she chooses to be best friends with, Zenna chose Hiccup the village runt. And what if there were TWO Night Furies instead of one? Contains HTTYD, Legend of the BoneKnapper Dragon, Book of Dragons and Gift of the Night Fury. All told in Zenna's POV.
1. Prologue

**Hello dear Fan Fiction Readers! This new story is for all the HTTYD Fans out there! **

**I give you…The Fiersome Chronicles!**

**Disclaimer Note: I do NOT own HTTYD and DreamWorks has all the rights to it.**

**How To Train Your Dragon**

**Prologue**

The story I am about to tell you happened a long, long time ago. While it is written in my point of view and I am a big part of it, I'm not deserving of all the glory. My best friend and closest comrade, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is the **real **hero of the story. And he will always be. Without him, change would have never come to our home, our tribe and most of all, our lives.

-**Zenna Fiersome**

**Don't worry guys. You'll meet Zenna Fiersome soon enough ;)**


	2. This is Berk

**First official chapter :D **

**Read and review. Reviews make me happy!**

**Once again, I do NOT own HTTYD**

**Chapter 1: This is Berk**

'_This…is Berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery…'_ I thought as I surveyed the area from my house's garden, readying my battle sticks and shield.

So far…nothing…

'_My village? In a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations yet every single building is new.'_

Deciding to patrol a wider area, I put a mesh net over my vegetables for protection and ventured out of my home area which is located on a slightly elevated part of the village.

'_We have fishing, hunting and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests…'_

I saw a pair of sheep grazing in a field nearby without a care in the world. Suddenly…something _huge _swooped down and carried one poor sheep off. The other one merely moved to the spot its buddy had been standing and continued munching.

It's starting…I began to run to the village plaza.

'_Most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have…'_

A loud roar split the air and I momentarily ducked as a scaly, red beast with wings flew above me, its body cloaked with flames that set a bunch of houses on fire. "_Dragons._" I muttered, tightening the grip on my sticks and joined the action.

Most people would leave but not us. We're _Vikings. _We have…stubbornness issues. In other words, it's fight to live and live to fight for us every day. Dragons have been a constant nuisance to us here on Berk. They've been stealing livestock from us almost every night when they raid so almost every night the village is a war zone from sunset to sunrise. I shouted a few greetings to some older Vikings including my parents. My dad, Edgar Fiersome, was waving a sword in a Gronckle's face egging it on. They're these huge Boulder Class dragons that look like giant boulders when they're asleep, usually after they've eaten a big meal. It's almost impossible to tell a Gronckle's head from its tail when asleep but I figured out a simple way. The big end's usually the head while the smaller end is the tail.

"Take care, sweetheart!" my dad shouted before rolling to one side to avoid the Gronckle's lava blast. "Be careful, love!" my mom, Henna Fiersome, told me before decapitating a Deadly Nadder, a Sharp Class dragon with pretty scales and poisonous spikes on its tail that can launch themselves at will-definitely a deadly dragon with a hot as the sun magnesium fire.

Oh yeah! My name's _Zenna_, Zenna Fiersome, by the way.

I may be a girl but don't judge me by my long, silky black hair, bright violet eyes, pretty face and small stature! I'm as tough as any seasoned warrior _and _have taken down my fair share of dragons in my fourteen years of existence namely: four Terrible Terrors, two Deadly Nadders and one Gronckle.

Yeah, only seven so far but seven's a lucky number.

"'Kay mom and dad! See 'ya on the battlefield!" I grinned as I continued running towards the plaza.

A Nadder tried to ambush me but I quickly got in its blind spot right under its nose and jabbed it in the chest with my sticks. It doubled over in pain, giving me enough time to deliver a hard blow to its head putting it out of its misery. You might've noticed that I only use _sticks _to fight dragons. While everyone else in the village use swords, spears, bludgeons, bolas and other sharp or heavy weapons, I prefer to fight light. My sticks are long, smoothed & polished to perfection and carved from super hard wood. A lot of times my peers have scoffed at how pathetic my weapons are. But when I personally showed them what these babies could do in a previous raid, they hushed up. Plus, I have a fool-proof and mess-proof way of killing dragons. While others would rid them with slashes and gashes, I would strike in either the chest or neck area to stun them before dealing a hard strike to their heads. Less blood; the better, I always say. I've never really felt comfortable with slashing a dragon to pieces because…well don't tell anyone…I have quite a bit of respect for them.

Alright, back to the here and now!

After I got rid of the Nadder I spotted my best friend, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, running through the chaos of the battle. As usual, the other Vikings were yelling at him to get inside. He's kind of well…accident prone, you see.

"Hey Hiccup!" I hollered. Hiccup's a lot smaller than me mostly due to his lack of muscle. I call him '_Fishbone_' sometimes which usually annoys him. He's scrawny and lean as a twig, has auburn hair, a freckly face and piercing emerald green eyes. I'm pretty much the only one in the village who knows that under that scrawny body is an intelligent mind. And mind you, an intelligent Viking is hard to find in Berk. I'm glad I'm friends with Hiccup. Not only is he a fun and caring person for me to hang out with, he's the only one who thinks before he acts while everyone else charges willy-nilly into battle.

Then again, he's also not really allowed into battle.

"Morning Zenna!" he grinned at me with his signature crooked grin. It was still dark but the sun was going to rise soon. We jogged on over to each other and high-fived. Suddenly Hiccup was picked up from the ground by a large, burly Viking with a red beard and dressed in authorative Viking wear.

"Hiccup! What is he?! What're you…?! Oh, get back inside!" he shouted exasperatedly before putting him down. That's Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off its shoulders. Do I believe it? Well, for all I know it could've been just a Terrible Terror's head he had popped off. But don't tell anyone I said that. I could get into serious trouble with the Chief if that bit of info got leaked out into the village.

"What've we got?" he asked one of the town's watchmen who had marched over to him. "Gronckles, Zipplebacks, Nadders. Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare." He reported. "Any Night Furies?" Stoick asked him. "None so far." The watchman shook his head. "Good." The Chief said before turning to me and Hiccup. I instantly stood straight as this is the Chief of Berk we're talking about.

"Zenna…" Stoick began, looking at Hiccup for a minute before looking back at me. "Keep an eye on him." Stoick told me. "Yes Sir." I replied before he left. I glanced over to Hiccup. "To the forge?" Hiccup asked me. "Yep. And we better get moving." I answered him.

Quickly, we sprinted over to the forge. "Oh, nice of you to join the party. I thought you'd been carried off." A two limbed Viking with a blond mustache chuckled upon seeing Hiccup. "What, me? I'm _way _too muscular for their taste. They won't know what to do with all _this._" Hiccup said, taking off his fur vest to put on an apron and lifted up a hammer off the weapons rack before confidently striking a bodybuilder pose. I had to laugh. Another thing I like about Hiccup-his sarcastic jokes are hilarious. "Well they need toothpicks, don't they?" the two limbed Viking joked.

The big dude with a peg leg and interchangeable hands is Gobber the Belch, village blacksmith. Hiccup's been his apprentice since he was well…littler. Hiccup got to work while I lingered by the armory, swatting a dragon or two away every now and then. A dragon had set a house on fire and the village's fire brigade quickly rushed over to put it out. The brigade consists of five other teenagers the same age as Hiccup and me.

There's Snotlout Jorgenson, Hiccup's cousin who is what I like to call him '_a boastful and brainless bruiser_'. He gave me a wink as he ran past me while I just rolled my eyes. He's always hitting on all the cute girls in Berk.

The next one to run past me is husky Fishlegs Ingerman, the smart one. Well, close to Hiccup that is and a walking Dragon Encyclopedia. Ask him any question about dragons and he'll give you the answer and then some in an instant.

Following him are the adrenaline junkie twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston. As usual they were arguing again but that's how they communicate. They don't really hate each other but man, do they take sibling rivalry to a whole new level.

Last one to go by me is Astrid Hofferson, the tough-as-nails Viking shield maiden _and _Hiccup's longtime crush. She gave me a curt nod and wave which I returned as she and the others put the fire out.

A house exploded nearby and the fiery background made the five of them look like the ultimate Viking dream team.

A team Hiccup really wants to be a part of.

I then noticed Hiccup try to get out of the forge before Gobber hooked him up by the tunic with his left hand. "Oh please let me out! I need to make my mark!" he protested. "Oh you've made plenty of marks-all in the wrong places!" Gobber told him. "Please! Just give me two minutes and I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better…_I might even get a date!_" he pleaded. I sighed. I feel sorry for him but I had to agree with Gobber on this. Hiccup's made some rather elaborate and impressive contraptions to try killing dragons. Unfortunately they backfire most of the time and land him in trouble. Anyways, Gobber said exasperatedly, "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe. You can't even throw one of these!" holding up a pair of bolas to emphasize his point before someone grabbed them and used it on a Gronckle, taking it down. I saw Hiccup move to the back of the workshop. "Ok fine. But _this _will throw it for me." He said, running a hand across a cannon-like doohickey he calls the Mangler. Then he accidentally hit the switch and a pair of bolas launched out of it. Luckily I ducked before I got hit. The bolas beaned another guy on the head, knocking his helmet off. I cringed as Gobber gave Hiccup a telling-off.

"See? Now this right here is what I'm talking about." Hiccup tried to speak up. "Mild calibration issue…" he said before Gobber cut him off. "Hiccup! If you ever want to get out there and fight dragons…" Oh boy, here it comes. Time and again, I've seen adults use this on the poor guy…

"…you need to stop all…_this._" Gobber finished, gesturing to Hiccup's entire body. "But you just pointed to _all of me!_" Hiccup exclaimed.

Yep. There it is-the whole assessment gesture.

"Yes, that's it! Stop being all of you!" Gobber pointed out. "Like that's ever possible." I muttered under my breath. Hiccup will always be Hiccup. That's what he does best…and what I like about him. I heard Hiccup challenge Gobber saying, "Oh you sir, are playing a very dangerous game. Keeping this much raw '_Vikingness_' contained? There will be consequences!"

To which Gobber replied, "I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now." Giving him a blade to work on.

I sighed as I kept an eye out for any approaching dragons. Just a few days ago, I told Hiccup that for a specific type of dragon, his reputation would get different results.

Nadder head? Sure to at least get him noticed.

Gronckles? He'll definitely get a girlfriend if he took one of those down.

A Hideous Zippleback? With its two heads comes an exotic double the status guarantee.

And there's the Monstrous Nightmare. With a nasty habit of setting itself on fire, only the best Vikings can go after it.

But the ultimate dragon prize is the dragon no one's ever seen…and lived to tell the tale. We call it the…

"NIGHT FURY!" "Get down!"

By instinct, I ducked under my shield so as not to be the elusive beast's target. But I caught a quick glimpse of its great wings and pitch black body as it finished off a catapult Stoick was standing on with a plasma blast. Good thing the Chief jumped off before he got caught in the crossfire. This dragon is definitely one to be labeled as a force to be reckoned with. It never steals food, never shows up and…

**BOOM! **There goes another catapult.

And it never misses.

I got up from my defensive stance to see Hiccup keeping his eye on the creature. I knew what he was thinking. No one has ever killed a Night Fury…and Hiccup wanted to be the first. "Man the fort, Hiccup. They need me out there." Gobber told him as he replaced his hook with an axe. "Stay. Put. There." He reminded him before looking at me. "And you, make sure he does." With that, Gobber left to join his comrades in battle. I looked at Hiccup. "You're gonna keep me in here, aren't you?" he asked sulkily. I shook my head. "I'd like to see how that thingamajig of yours works." I said, a sly smile appearing on my face. Hiccup grinned as he got his Mangler out of the forge and we headed out.

Oh yeah, one more thing Hiccup and I have in common-we both _love _to disobey orders.

"Hiccup! Get back inside!" Phlegma the Fierce snapped as we ran past her. "Sorry! Be right back!" Hiccup yelled, pushing his Mangler across the field. "It's cool, he's with me!" I hollered before we managed to find a safe spot to set up. I knew there was a 99% chance I'd get in trouble if Hiccup did but well, he's my friend & I gotta look out for him. Plus, I know he'd do the same thing for me.

"How many bolas can this thing fire?" I asked as Hiccup got ready. "One." He replied, readying his crosshair. "Make it count." I reminded him. We carefully scanned the sky, both mumbling "Give us something to shoot at…"

Then it appeared.

"Coming in at 3 o' clock, Hiccup! Shoot it down _now!_" I shouted as the Night Fury finished off a catapult with a plasma blast, its pitch black form slightly illuminated in the light of its fire. Hiccup quickly took aim and fired. He fell backward due to the sheer force of it but I saw the bolas hit the dragon and it spiraled down to the ground, shrieking as it did so. Hiccup saw that and whooped, "Yes, I hit it! Did anybody see that?!" with a huge smile on his face.

It only took me a nanosecond to let the reality that my scrawny friend had taken down the most feared dragon known to our entire tribe sink in. Then I joined him in celebrating. "Thor Almighty, Hiccup! You actually did it!" I cheered as we jumped around in excited circles, laughing.

Suddenly, I saw a Monstrous Nightmare creeping behind Hiccup! I tensed up. "Hiccup…" I said in a low voice, carefully backing away. He turned around, took one look at the dragon and paled. "Except for Zenna and you…" he deadpanned.

We both began to back off. Too bad the Monstrous Nightmare was aggressive right now and it roared at us in our faces in an outrage, flames covering its body! "**RUN!**" I screamed, giving Hiccup a head start shove before I took off as well. We frantically tried to lose it in the battlefield but unfortunately, that thing was hell-bent on roasting us. It spat fire at us while we ran.

As we neared the plaza, I yelled "Go! Hide!"giving Hiccup another push. He quickly hid behind a grand torch just in time before the Monstrous Nightmare fired another blast of flame at it. Luckily, he was protected by the torch and it didn't fall on him. I turned to face the Monstrous Nightmare, determined to not let it get any closer to my best friend.

'_Come on big guy, let's dance…_' I thought as I tightened my grip on my battle sticks. "YAAAAAHHHH!" I shrieked as I charged.

But then, Stoick burst in. With a few blows from his hammer, he sent that Monstrous Nightmare on the run. But that was also when the torch Hiccup was hiding behind toppled over, destroying a walkway. Now you know, old village but lots of new houses and other structures thanks to the dragons and sometimes, Hiccup's backfiring plans. I looked around at the carnage before my gaze finally landed on Hiccup who nervously looked at Stoick, who looked really pissed off. Oh boy…

'_Oh, right. There's also one more thing you should know about my friend Hiccup…_'

"Sorry, _dad…_" Hiccup mumbled.

Surprise, surprise huh?


	3. Son of a Chief

**Here's Chapter Two And I might as well give you a description of how Zenna looks.**

**Zenna's about the same height as Hiccup and of the same build as Astrid. She has long black hair that reaches up to her upper back when it's down but she usually ties it into a scraggy, unkempt ponytail while some strands are left on the sides of her face reaching up to her shoulders. Zenna uses a purple ponytail in her hair. She has fair skin and striking violet colored eyes, something that really sets her apart from all the people in Berk.**

**Now onto her clothes! Zenna wears a violet choker-like cloth band around her neck and wears a silver pendant (where she got it, can't tell you ;) Not yet, anyway…). She wears a sleeveless magenta tunic and a fur vest and violet cloth strips tied around her biceps. Her arms are wrapped in black cloth with red leather elbow pads. She also wears a brown leather skirt with a red sash tied around her waist and black leggings and brown fur boots.**

**As for Zenna's battle sticks, I got the idea to use those for her from one of my country's sports, **_**Arnis**_**-a Philippine martial art that uses rattan sticks in combat. I have my own pair but I'm not exactly good at it. To put simply, I cannot fight to save my life XD**

**In this chapter, we'll get to see how Zenna befriended Hiccup.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD**

**Chapter 2: Son of a Chief**

Yeah, I bet you're all doubting me now but I will be perfectly frank.

Yes.

Scrawny, weak Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III _is _the _son _of _Chief _ Stoick the Vast.

Believe me, I couldn't believe it either when I first met him. But it's the full and honest truth. Now I watched as Hiccup got yelled at by his father, _again._

"Every time you step outside, disaster strikes! Why can't you follow the simplest of orders?!" Stoick yelled at him. "I-I can't help it! I see a dragon and I wanna kill it! And dad, I actually shot down a dragon! It fell just past Raven Point, maybe we can send a search party down there…" Hiccup managed to say before…

"Stop! Just…stop. Hiccup, I have no time for this! Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed!" Stoick interrupted. Hiccup shrugged. "Well, for me the village could use a little less feeding." He said sarcastically.

I covered my mouth to block out a laugh. Now _that _was something I could agree to. A few offended Vikings put a hand to their stomachs. "This isn't a joke, Hiccup! And you…!" Stoick then looked sharply at me.

"I told you to keep an eye on him!" he said, pointing to me and then Hiccup. "I did, sir! And he actually _did _shoot down a dragon! I saw it with my own eyes. I was with him the whole time." I informed him. "And you couldn't have stopped him from doing…whatever he did?!" Stoick asked me angrily.

"Well _most_ of the damage done today wasn't his fault. And the dragon he shot down…" I said before my parents came. "Zenna, I think you've said enough." My mom hushed me up while my dad respectfully bowed to Stoick. "Sorry Stoick…You know she's just trying her best after what happened to…"

Not again! Did they always have to bring that up?! It's been two years already ever since it happened!

"Dad, please! This has nothing to do with Elias!" I grumbled. Stoick then looked at me with a small degree of pity. "Your brother was a fine warrior and you're as feisty as him, I'll give you that…" he said quietly before turning to Gobber, telling him to take Hiccup home.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Guess he was willing to let this one slide…

But seriously, did they always have to keep bringing my brother up? I mean, I've already moved on from what had happened two years ago and I did _not _want to be reminded of it again!

Anyways the battle was already over. The dragons had left so it was back to usual Viking life. Hiccup and I decided to walk back to our houses together with Gobber and my parents. But when we were about to part ways, I heard the other Viking teens make fun of Hiccup again. Astrid and Fishlegs were okay with me despite their refusal to help Hiccup when he was getting pushed around. Snotlout, however, lived to make his cousin's life miserable along with the Twins.

"It's a miracle Zenna can put up with screw ups like you!" I heard Snotlout say. I sharply faced him and the others. "Watch your mouth, Jorgenson unless you want your skull to be the next thing I bash my sticks into!" I warned him, my violet eyes flashing in anger.

"Ohh…Trying to stand up for your boyfriend, huh?" Tuffnut teased me. "You two are perfect for each other!" Ruffnut snickered.

Angry, I picked up two fist-sized rocks and hurled them at their helmets, knocking them off their heads. "Let me make one thing crystal clear, you worms! Hiccup and I are _just friends!_ And if you guys harass him again when I'm around, you won't live to see the next sunrise!" I growled at them fiercely.

That made them back off. Even Fishlegs whimpered in fear. Astrid…I can't really read her face that well but I figured she took my threat seriously. With one last glare, I left for home.

As you can see, I've gotten used to people teasing me about my close relationship with Hiccup. But he's only got eyes for Astrid, even though she never really notices him.

Anyways, me being such a fine warrior and deciding to be friends with the social outcast has kind of made me a target for disapproving looks. Every time Hiccup and I were roaming around the village, a lot of the adults would give me dubious looks. And every time, I ignore them even when I wanna say to them, _"Yeah, I'm best friends with Hiccup. Got a problem with that?"_

They can give me all the weird looks they want but I'm never thinking of ditching Hiccup for a better friend. We've known each other ever since we were eight years old when my family migrated from the South to Berk.

I could still remember that very day…

'_It was the peak of winter when our ship docked at Berk. I was only eight while my brother Elias was only nine. Stoick had already been a widower when my family met him. I don't really know what happened to his wife but I could tell he still missed her dearly. My brother, curious as a cat, ran off to explore as soon as we got off the boat with my father chasing after him. My mother and I were left with the Chief. Stoick was nice and hospitable enough, but I was slightly intimidated due to him being bigger than me. When we arrived at the Great Hall, my father had already caught Elias and brought him there to meet us. While the adults talked pleasantries, Elias and I looked around._

"Nice and cozy here, right Zen?" _Elias asked me, using the nickname he made up when I was born. _"Inside, yeah. But outside's freezing, Eli." _I said, shivering a bit to prove my point. Then I got serious. _"You think life here in Berk will be a lot more interesting than back there? I heard that dragons come here every night…" _I asked nervously__._

_ Elias giggled and playfully ruffled my hair. _"Those dragons are gonna be the very reason our lives will be even more interesting, my little sister. Can you imagine the thrill of being able to engage in battle with them?" _he said excitedly. _"Will we still establish our fight code of honor?" _I asked, referring to one of the teachings taught to warriors back in our home in the South. _"Before you deliver the death blow, establish _lochinvyrr _be it enemy or prey. We'll apply it on dragons too. Before we kill them, we give them respect." _Elias repeated our South fight code of honor. We smiled at each other and continued exploring the Great Hall._

_My brother and I looked a lot alike. We both had the black hair of our parents, the same face shape and body structure which was wiry yet lean and muscular. My brother's hair was perpetually forever mussed up no matter how hard you tried to fix it while I mostly kept my hair down with side bangs or tied it into a scraggy bun._

_The only thing that differed were our eyes. My brother, like my parents, had deep blue eyes. For some reason, I was born with violet ones, something that was unheard of. Nobody in my mother and father's families had violet eyes. My name was also very different. And instead of my parents naming me, it was my brother. In fact my parents told me that when I was born, Eli had said his very first word which was my name, 'Zenna'. After he said that, the name stuck and I was officially named Zenna A. Fiersome._

_We decided to go outside after we had asked our parents for permission. Bundling up nicely, Eli and I headed out into the snow. That's when we saw three kids our age ganging up on a small boy with reddish-brown hair and bright emerald green eyes._

_The leader of the gang was a boy with spiky black hair and muscular arms while the other two were twins, boy and girl. They were trying to wrestle a small notebook from the smaller boy who was valiantly trying to keep his hands on it. Then the leader boy shoved him to the ground. The notebook fell into the snow and the twins snatched it up._

"Give it back! My mom gave me that! It's mine!" _the small boy shouted, making a move to get up while the twins flipped through the pages. _"Just drawings? Boorrriiinnggg!" _the boy twin exclaimed. _"Let's burn it!" _the girl twin said excitedly. _"No you can't do that!" _the small boy protested before the leader boy grabbed him by the front of his green tunic._

"Who says we can't?!" _he said, roughly shaking him. Eli and I looked at each other and nodded. We had to teach those bullies a lesson! Picking up rocks, we packed snow around them to make rock snowballs. I took the first one, aimed it at the black haired boy and threw it._

**BONK!**

_Bull's eye! He howled in pain, dropping the small boy while Eli threw more rock snowballs at the twins who screamed and dropped the notebook. Then Eli and I charged in screaming, _"GAAARRRGGGHHHH!"

_The three bullies instantly freaked out and ran off, leaving the small boy looking at us in a daze._ "Next time those jerks show up, I'm bringing my sticks." _Eli said proudly while I retrieved the notebook._

_I went over to the small boy and helped him up. _"Are you okay?" _I asked, giving him back the notebook. He nodded shyly. _"Why'd you do that?" _he asked me and my brother curiously. _"You needed help so we helped." _I replied._

"Anyway who were those creeps? We'll keep an eye on them for you if you want." _Elias offered. The boy shook his head as he checked his notebook. _"No thanks…My cousin Snotlout and the Twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut are always picking on me. But I'm used to it…" _he said quietly._

"That big kid was your _cousin?_" _I asked him in shock. _"Mm-hmmm…My name's _Hiccup _by the way." _the small boy looked at me and my brother and smiled. _"My name's Elias. This is my little sister, Zenna. Nice to meetcha'!" _my brother said cheerfully. We shook hands._

"We're new here in Berk. Can you maybe show us around, Hiccup?" _I asked hopefully. Hiccup grinned. _"I know this island like the back of my hand. Come on!" _he said. Laughing, Elias and I went with Hiccup to explore our new home…'_

After that, Hiccup, Elias and I became best of friends. While the other kids spent their days play sword fighting and pretending to hunt dragons, the three of us would do lots of other stuff such as troll hunting, (_According to Gobber and Hiccup, they're real and they steal your left socks_) drawing all sorts of things we could think of, a little bit of play fighting every now and then. And most of all, doing all kinds of experiments in Hiccup's room and inventing cool contraptions in the forge (_When Gobber wasn't around, of course_). Yep…We became quite a tight-knit bunch.

We knew everything about each other and we shared our secrets and wishes as well. Most of all, we watched each other's backs. If one of us was picked on, we'd be there to protect each other in an instant. If one of us felt bad, we'd all feel the pain. And if one of us felt happy, we'd celebrate together. That's how life was like for us. Just the three of us _weirdos _(_as our peers called us_) against the rest of the world…until the three of us were cut down to two…when Elias died…

The year I was 12 years old, Elias was already participating in the war against the dragons. He'd graduated from Dragon Training at just the age of ten and he was the youngest warrior in the army at just the age of 13. I often worried about him getting hurt or worse, killed and he'd just laugh.

"_It'll take a lot to kill me, Zen. But if I __**do **__die in battle…_" he'd always tell me before handing me his battle sticks for a moment.

"…_I want you to have these and carry the fight on for me._" That's how he would always end it.

Then came one night two years ago…

There was another dragon raid and I was forced to stay inside my house with Gothi, the village elder. When the battle was over, my parents came back with just my brother's battle sticks and helmet. I didn't need to be told he was gone. I just took one look at Elias' things and broke down crying.

During the funeral, Hiccup held my hand the whole time and stayed with me long after the burning funeral pyre was gone and hugged me, promising that he'll stay by me no matter what. For that, I'll forever be grateful to him and thankful to have been blessed with such a great friend. And from then on, I swore to myself that I'll always do my level best to be a friend to Hiccup and to be a warrior on the battlefield. Oddly enough, I don't feel any hatred toward the dragons nor do I hold a grudge against them. If I had my way, I wouldn't kill them and just leave them alone.

But if I have to do it in order to protect the people I love…I'm willing to resort to that measure when the need arises.

**And there you have it! Now you all know that Zenna is just as different as Hiccup, on account of where she originally came from.**

**And for her brother Elias, I would say he mostly liked wearing a black tunic paired with a fur vest along with black pants and boots. His Viking helmet was also colored black.**

**Anyway, read and review as crazy as you want :D**


	4. A Downed Dragon and A Shock to the Gods

**I'm back :D I apologize for making you guys wait for another update (Hey that rhymes!) Been feeling a little under the weather but I'm back now.**

**Without further ado, here is the third chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD and DreamWorks Animation has all the rights to it.**

**Chapter 3: A Downed Dragon and A Shock to the Gods Themselves**

I had long since gone to my room and was contemplating on what to do on this fine, Odin-given day while glancing at the painting of my family Bucket, the village artist, made for us the day we moved to Berk. Seeing my brother's face always comforted me. It was like he was still right there next to me just like in the painting.

Wondering what Hiccup was up to now, I looked out my window. Hiccup's house was situated at the top of the village. I heard that not only was it built there to show status but also for the Chief to keep watch over the entire village. My house is actually just below Hiccup's house so I can always look out from my bedroom window to see if Hiccup or Stoick were leaving or entering their house. And right now, I saw Hiccup enter his house after Gobber escorted him home…and as soon as Gobber left, went out the back door.

'_Red alert! Red alert! Hiccup idea on the prowl!'_ I thought, smiling to myself.

I waited for my parents to leave for a village meeting before unfurling the foldable ladder attached to my windowsill and climbed down. As quick as the wind, I ran to catch up with Hiccup. You'd be surprised at how fast he can move but I was as swift as him and caught up with him.

"Oh the Gods hate me! Some people lose their knife or their mug, I manage to lose an _entire dragon!_" he groaned. He'd already searched a considerably wide area of the forest before I caught up with him and tapped him on the shoulder.

He jumped up in surprise and whirled around to face me. "For Thor's sake, Zenna! Quit doing that! You scared the living daylights out of me!" he exclaimed.

"Then I must be like a Night Fury. Anyways, _shush! _You want the whole village to know we're here?" I said, softly laughing.

"What're you doing here?" he asked as we walked through the woods.

"Well you might need help. You _are _trying to kill the most ferocious dragon on earth after all." I pointed out.

Hiccup grinned before pushing aside a tree branch, only to get swatted in the face by it. I laughed before I noticed something strange. The trees in the area we were in right now were either scorched leafless or torn up from the ground by the roots. Broken branches littered the place. Like someone or _something _had taken up tree genocide as a hobby. The ground itself looked roughed up. We followed the path of the scarred earth until we reached a clearing.

And we were in for the shock of our lives.

An actual _Night Fury _was lying on the ground unconscious, ensnared in the bolas from Hiccup's Mangler. My mouth dropped open in shock. I couldn't say a word. Hiccup looked just as shocked as I was. As well as excited.

"I…I did it! I did it! I have brought down this mighty beast!" he proclaimed when we got near the Night Fury, confidently placing his foot on the dragon's leg.

Suddenly the dragon stirred and opened its acid green eyes. So _that's _what a Night Fury's eyes looked like…

Anyways, I looked at Hiccup and asked, "Okay, so what now?"

He then fingered with the small knife he always had and took a deep breath. "I'm gonna kill him." He told me before closely approaching it.

I decided to keep my eyes on them, putting aside my distaste for blood and gore long enough to be an eyewitness. "I'm going to kill you, dragon…I'm gonna cut out your heart and bring it to my father…I am a Viking…I am a VIKING!" Hiccup then raised his knife and prepared to plunge it through the Night Fury's scaly hide.

'_Do it! Do it!_' I mentally chanted before stopping myself short. Cut out the heart? Yeesh…that's gonna be a little gross.

But I forced myself to keep watching. Suddenly the dragon made a low mournful noise as Hiccup hovered over it with his knife. And whoa…

Its eyes showed actual _fear._

I was slightly unnerved. The poor thing was probably scared to death…

Elias had once told me that sometimes he felt guilty for killing dragons because every dragon he had ever killed showed one emotion, and one emotion only, before he delivered the death blow.

Every dragon my brother…and now that I think about it, and I have killed…showed true _fear _in their eyes before we killed them…

I thought about telling Hiccup that maybe we should just leave the dragon alone when he did something…totally unexpected.

He started _cutting _the ropes binding the Night Fury's body.

_He was setting it free!_

I swear that the Gods in Valhalla were just as shocked as I was. Had Hiccup gone completely, totally, utterly _insane?!_

Just when I was about to scream at him that he had lost his mind, Hiccup severed the last rope. The Night Fury then growled and to my horror, lunged at him and pinned him to the ground!

"HICCUP!" I cried out. Dang it! Of all the times I decided to leave my sticks at home! So I just grabbed a broken branch to use as a weapon and prepared to attack. Then all of a sudden I was tackled to the ground as well!

"_Gaaacckkk! Aaaacckkk!_" I croaked as I looked up at my attacker.

My heart nearly stooped.

Earlier on, I had identified the downed Night Fury as a _male._ My attacker…was a _female _Night Fury!

'_Holy Mother Freyja…Gods have mercy on our souls…_' I thought, fearing that Hiccup and I were about to meet our demise.

I waited for the girl Night Fury to finish me off. And waited…and waited…

But it never happened…

She just stared at me, her deep green (_her eyes were a deeper shade of green than the male's_) narrowed into suspicious slits. I desperately glanced at Hiccup. He was squirming under the male Night Fury's weight but was trying to stay calm. His Night Fury glanced at mine and they both nodded. They roared in our faces and then…just left.

As the two of them left, I noticed something different about the male Night Fury. One of his tailfins was missing. As in completely gone. Hiccup's bolas must have torn it off! Hiccup and I shakily got up.

"Hiccup, you just let a golden opportunity to prove yourself to Berk in the form of a _Night Fury_ to get away. Scratch that, you _freed it and let it get away._" I said in shock. He just stared at me.

"Why…Why didn't you kill him?" I asked. It took him a while to answer. "I…don't know…" Then his eyes widened. "There was _another _Night Fury. It was a _girl_…Zenna…do you think they were…_mates?_" he asked me slowly.

I shrugged. "Well they were boy and girl…So the possibility's pretty high that…yeah." I said. We just looked at each other in stunned silence. What just happened was so shocking, Hiccup and I even had a hard time believing it _did _happen!

Finally, Hiccup spoke. "We need to get going."

"Do we tell them?" I asked but then again, I knew that was a risky idea.

"For now…Let's keep this between us." My best friend told me.

I nodded and we quickly left Raven Point, our hearts still pumping from adrenaline…

**Ta-da! Finally Hiccup and Zenna meet Toothless and…his mate! Looks like there'll be two Night Fury Riders instead of just one ;)**

**Until the next update, DragonGuardian98 signing off!**


	5. The Lies Begin

**I'm back :D**

**Sorry if this Chapter's short. I've just started transferring my handwritten draft of this story onto my laptop and typing takes time.**

**Also, who has seen the final trailer of HTTYD 2?**

**I have seen it and OMG, my only words are: JUNE, JUST LET IT BE JUNE ALREADY!**

**I'm thinking that after watching the sequel a bunch of times, I might make a version with Zenna in it as well…**

**Anyways, read and review. **

**Once again, I do NOT own HTTYD!**

**Chapter 4: The Lies Begin**

When we got back to the village, Hiccup and I had already made a pact to not speak of the incident to anyone other than ourselves. "Swear to Valhalla…?" Hiccup looked at me. "…we will not speak of it unless it's just the two of us." I finished for him. Then we went home.

I found my parents waiting for me patiently at our dining table. I noticed their posture. Hands clasped and arms folded across the table, a sure sign that important matters needed to be discussed.

"Alright, what is it?" I asked nonchalantly, taking a seat. My father spoke first. "At the council meeting, the Chief has decided to set out on another search for the Dragon's Nest. Your mother and I will accompany the army." He said.

"So I will have to take care of myself while you're gone?" I asked. Every now and then when the raids really become a problem, the Chief organizes a hunt for the Dragon's Nest. Their notion is that if they destroy the Nest, the dragons will have to leave to find a new home and the problem will be solved.

Of course, so far every attempt's failed. They haven't even come close to _finding_ the Nest anyway!

"Well, yes. We know you can take care of yourself, Zenna. But…" my mother managed to say before trailing off.

I tapped my foot impatiently. Finally my mom said,

"While we're gone, you will have to attend Dragon Training. The Chief has advised Gobber to train new recruits while most of the adults are gone."

My eyes widened in shock.

I've already fought off _and _killed dragons on my own! When Elias had started training at the age of nine shortly after we moved to Berk, everything he learned was passed onto me by him.

The kinds of dragons, their shot limits, the location of their blind spots, their weaknesses and how to handle any weapons (_although we both preferred to use battle sticks_) and a whole lot more.

Everything I knew about fighting dragons came from Elias. And when he died, I put all his teachings to good use. I didn't need to go back to the basics!

"Mom, Dad I've _already _been trained to fight dragons! I've even proven myself on the battlefield eight times! _Eight!_" I protested, holding up my right hand and three fingers for emphasis.

"Yes we know Elias taught you well. But Zenna in order to become a _true _dragon slayer, you need to have a formal education." My father chided me.

"Dad we're _Vikings _for crying out loud. Since when have we ever done anything _'formal'_?" I countered, putting air quotes on the word formal.

"_Zenna Arrowhead Fiersome! _Our decision is final young lady. You are going to Dragon Training and that's _that!_" my mother snapped sharply.

"Fine, I give in!" I sighed in frustration before heading up to my room.

My mom and dad just continued making preparations while I sulked.

"Oh, Eli…If you were here I'd be so much happier with you teaching me…" I said, looking forlornly at my brother's painted image on our family shield.

I remembered that Elias and I had a secret code we'd use to enter our room that we shared until he died. One thing Elias learned from Dragon Training was that _a dragon will always go for the kill._ He'd relayed that bit of information to me but was skeptical of it.

One thing my brother and I only talked about when Hiccup wasn't around to hear us was very unusual.

_We used to debate on whether dragons could be tamed and then trained._

To Vikings, that would sound completely absurd. But my brother and I often wondered on the possibility of Dragons and Vikings living together in peace and harmony.

That was why our secret code was '_If we can tame 'em; We can train 'em_'.

If dragons _always _went for the kill, then what about the two Night Furies? Why didn't they?

I lay down on my bed to think when my parents came up.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, love. But you know we're just doing what we think is best for you. If we do anything against you, you're free to reprimand us." My mother said apologetically as I sat up and allowed her to brush my hair.

"But you cannot disagree with us over your training, Zenna. Understand?" my father reminded me. "Yes, Dad." I nodded before he popped the question I'd hope he or mom wouldn't ask.

"Anyways, where did you go when your mother and I were out? Were you with Hiccup?"

I instantly felt my stomach tighten into a knot. What do I do?! What do I say?!

"Yeah…"

Ack! Stupid mouth!

I silently cursed myself for letting that truth slip out.

"Did you two find the dragon Hiccup supposedly shot down?" dad asked me. Even when I told the whole village my friend had shot down a dragon, even my own parents were skeptical of my claim.

I felt like I had been backed into a corner…

Then I remembered my promise to Hiccup-that I wouldn't breathe a word to anyone about what had happened in the forest earlier.

Carefully, I replied, "We went looking for it…But we only found the bolas. It probably escaped after he shot it down."

My parents simply nodded and went back downstairs to continue packing. I whistled in relief, flopping back on my bed.

'_Odin, forgive me for I have told a lie…_' I thought guiltily.

Little did I know that my lying streak had officially begun. I just didn't know how _many _times I was gonna lie…


	6. Dragon Training and Discovery

**Two updates in one day :D Let me tell you, this took a lot of time writing today. Good thing the HTTYD Official Wiki page has transcripts for the movie so I could be fundamentally accurate in the dialogues.**

**Anyways, on with the show!  
Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD.**

**Chapter 5: Dragon Training and Discovery**

The following day, my parents left shortly after breakfast and I found out that Hiccup had been enrolled in Dragon Training as well.

The poor guy, he tried to tell his father that he _couldn't _kill dragons but apparently the conversation became one-sided and Stoick had him signed up.

A distinct advantage when the only time you and your dad communicate was when you two were arguing.

We walked over to the arena where I patted Hiccup on the back and said, "Buddy system, Hiccup. You keep an eye out for me and I'll do the same." I promised him.

"You're a good friend, Zenna. Thanks, I appreciate it." He smiled as we entered the arena.

We overheard the teens talking and managed to hear Astrid comment with, "It's only fun if you get a scar out of it." To which I rolled my eyes.

For me, scars are just gruesome reminders of the times you almost got killed. Who would want to die when life still has so many things waiting for you?

"Yeah, I know. Pain, _love it._" Hiccup said sarcastically as we revealed ourselves.

"Oh great. Who let _him _in?" Tuffnut groaned upon seeing Hiccup with an axe he could barely hold up.

"Can I transfer to the class with the cooler Vikings?" Snotlout snickered before he and the others noticed me.

"Hello, good-looking." He said smoothly. I just rolled my eyes and twirled my sticks.

"I thought Zenna already had training…" Ruffnut whispered to Astrid. The said Viking girl looked at me questioningly.

"Didn't have much of a choice. My parents made me go back to the basics." I replied bluntly before glancing at Snotlout and the Twins.

"You do anything to mess with Hiccup or me, I'll end you." I warned them, raising one stick threateningly.

Gobber then arrived.

"Welcome to Dragon Training! Here you'll learn how to fight dragons but also identify them." He welcomed us warmly before waving to several locked cages around the arena.

"The Deadly Nadder!"

Fishlegs immediately saying the stats.

"Gronckle!"

More stats.

"The Hideous Zippleback!"

Oh, gods somebody _please _make Ingerman shut up. It was ruining my focus!

"And…the Monstrous Nightmare." Gobber said before interrupting Fishlegs' nerdy dialogue.

_Thank you, Gobber!_

Then he said, "Let's get started!" before walking over to one of the violently shuddering cages.

"Aren't you going to teach us first?" Snotlout said nervously. "I believe in '_learning on the job_'." Gobber grinned.

In other words, it was trial and error time!

He opened the cage and out came the Gronckle! Good thing Elias taught me well!

I quickly made a dash for the shields while the others were still guessing on what they needed first until Astrid said, "A shield!" to which Gobber replied, "Correct! If you have to choose between a sword or a shield, _always _pick the shield. Shields are the best kind of weapon." He advised.

The others then grabbed their own shields while I managed to put some safe distance away from the Gronckle, holding up my shield while I watched Ruffnut and Tuffnut fight over one until the Gronckle blasted it and them out of the game.

Today's lesson was all about survival. You get blasted, you're dead (_or in this case, out of the game_).

Next one to get eliminated was Fishlegs, then Snotlout who was still trying to charm Astrid. But if you ask me, he's got negative zero chances of charming her into being his girlfriend.

"You should come by sometime to work out! You look like you work out!" he called cheerfully to Astrid before his shield got hit. Astrid then tucked and rolled over to Hiccup.

"I guess it's just you and me?" he asked, hoping to make an impression on her.

"Nope, just you." Astrid then quickly left.

Better luck next time, my friend.

Hiccup's shield was then blasted out of his hands and I sprang into action. One thing Elias also taught me was that if you wanna confuse a dragon so it can't attack, make _lots _of noise. So I did just that, banging my sticks against the shield and walls as I ran around the ring. I was so focused on distracting the Gronckle, I did _not _notice Hiccup until I ran into him. Startled, I flung my shield up into the air and the Gronckle managed to refocus and destroy it.

Whoops…

"Oh nuts…" I muttered before Hiccup grabbed my hand and we ran for it.

But even though it was one of the slowest dragons, that Gronckle managed to corner us.

And it still had one shot of flame left of its six shot limit.

It opened its mouth and I panicked. It was gonna unleash a lava blast. Now _that _was something my sticks couldn't withstand.

Fire.

Hiccup and I just shut our eyes as the Gronckle prepared to incinerate us.

Luckily Gobber came and got the thing back in its cage in the nick of time. Breathing hard, I peeled myself off the wall while Gobber inspected Hiccup to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"Remember, a dragon will always, _always_, go for the kill." Gobber reminded us.

When the others had left, Hiccup and I looked at each other. We both knew that it was completely false. And we both knew what we were gonna do next.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Hiccup asked me. I smiled, my eyes sparkling with mischief. "Try me."

Laughing we both headed to the forest, stopping by Hiccup's house to get his notebook and charcoal pencil.

'_A dragon will always, __**always**__, go for the kill…_'

Gobber's lesson replayed in my mind as we approached the area where we last saw the two Night Furies.

"So why didn't you…?" Hiccup's voice interrupted my thoughts as he surveyed the area. That's exactly what I was thinking as well.

"Let's try following where they flew off." I suggested, pointing to the ideal place to start searching which was right past the trees I saw the two dragons fly past yesterday.

Hiccup thought it was a good idea and went ahead followed by me.

"Hiccup, if we find them…_What do we do with them?_" I asked. He shrugged.

"Just…observe I guess." He said as we walked.

We arrived at a small ridge with a drop that led us to a secluded cove. It had tall trees with branches that cast out some of the sunlight, making the light bounce around in different directions and a pond.

I had to admit, this place was rather beautiful…

Hiccup and I took a minute to admire the scenery before we noticed that the ground was covered with black scales.

"Wow…Look at these beauties…" I said in awe, clasping one beautiful midnight black scale in my hands.

Hiccup had one as well and was examining it when two roars suddenly startled us. The male Night Fury suddenly came up from the cove below and he looked _mad!_

"Get down!" I yelped, pulling Hiccup down to the ground.

But suddenly, the male Night Fury spiraled back down into the cove.

Curious, Hiccup and I looked down.

The female Night Fury was patiently watching as the male struggled to fly out of the cove, going down every time. We were awestruck as we hid among the rocks. Hiccup drew a Night Fury in his notebook when I pointed out to him the male Night Fury's missing left tailfin and he rubbed the left tailfin on the drawing he made.

Then I saw the female Night Fury dunk her head in the water for a few seconds before pulling out a fish which she offered to the frustrated male. He snorted a bit but accepted it. Then it resumed its fruitless efforts to fly away.

"Why don't you just fly away…?" Hiccup wondered out loud.

"It's missing a tailfin, Hiccup. He won't be able to gain altitude without a full set of wings." I pointed out.

"Well yeah…But what about the female?" Hiccup said, pointing at the female who now seemed to sigh and shake her head as the male tried to catch some fish from the pond but to no avail.

"She's his mate, Hiccup. Of course she wouldn't just leave him all alone like that." I said.

He nodded in agreement before he accidentally dropped his charcoal pencil. It bounced off the rocks and landed on the ground below.

Drat!

I gave Hiccup my most exasperated '_Why?!_' look when the two Night Furies looked up…and saw us.

For a minute, none of us moved.

We stared at them, they stared at us.

Hiccup had his eyes on the male while I focused on the female. She seemed curious. The way her eyes looked at me while curiously cocking her head was kind of cute. Clearly the Night Furies were unlike any other dragons Hiccup and I have ever seen.

Finally, Hiccup and I decided to leave. It was already afternoon and we still had things to do. Hiccup with his apprentice work at the forge, chores for me. We took one last look at the two watching Night Furies. Hiccup left first while I decided to wave good-bye to them.

"_Bye-bye!_" I said cheerfully. The female Night Fury looked confused and tried to imitate my hand wave, flicking its front paw left and right. I giggled and went on my way.

Later that evening, it was raining.

Hiccup and I had just finished our chores and were drenched to the skin as we made our way to the Great Hall.

"One of these days, I'll wish someone invents a shield that keeps out the rain." I muttered, wringing the excess water out of my hair.

"I'll see if I can whip something up that'll hopefully not screw up." Hiccup said jokingly.

Of course with my best friend being the brilliant inventor, I can always count on him to deliver the goods. Even though his dragon catching contraptions fail, Hiccup's made some other interesting stuff that can help everyday life. Like this winch for the gangplanks of the ships so we don't have to lift the heavy wood planks and a bunch of other cool, useful little doodads.

Anyways, as we entered the Great Hall we overheard Gobber and the other Viking teens chatting.

"Alright, now where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber asked them.

"I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." Astrid admitted.

"Yeah…We noticed." Ruffnut remarked.

"No, it was fine. It was so…Astrid." Snotlout said, trying to defend Astrid's honor whilst flirting with her.

'_Pfft! Like he'll ever get a chance with her…_' I thought as Hiccup and I went to grab dinner. "Alright, now where did Hiccup go wrong?" Gobber asked, noticing us.

"Uh, he showed up." Ruffnut answered.

"He didn't get eaten." Tuffnut said next.

Astrid was the last one to pipe up with, "He's _never _where he should be."

Ouch! Harsh much…

"Thank you, Astrid!" Gobber said, completely ignoring the slight glare I was directing at him.

Hiccup just grabbed a chicken leg and plate before he sat on a table next to the others'. I grabbed my plate and a slice of bread and ham before glancing at the others. Normally I would've told them off but I didn't feel like doing it to Gobber so I just sat down with Hiccup. That's when Gobber decided to hobble over to our table.

"You need to live and breathe this stuff." He said, dropping a book onto our table. "The Dragon Manual. Everything we know about dragons is all in here." He stated. A low rumble of thunder coming from outside then made him look up.

"No attacks tonight. Study up." He said after a few seconds before leaving.

"Wait, read?" Tuffnut said in disbelief.

"While we're still alive?" his twin sister agreed with him.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you about?" Snotlout asked, annoyed over the idea of studying.

"Because learning about the stuff we kill can help us defend ourselves, 'Lout. How would you like to be attacked by a dragon you know absolutely _nothing _about?" I told him, giving him a look that clearly meant no nonsense.

"Oh, I read it like seven times! There's this water dragon that shoots boiling water at your face! And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week…" Fishlegs managed to say before Tuffnut cut him off.

"Yeah, that sounds great. There was a chance I was going to read that…" he said hastily. "…but, now…" Ruffnut said, giving him a bored look.

I rolled my eyes. Those guys really didn't take studying seriously even if it was a way to save their lives!

"You guys read, _I'll _go kill stuff!" Snotlout boasted. "Good luck with that make sure you don't die tonight." I said dryly while Fishlegs (_who was still spouting off dragon facts_) and the Twins quickly left with Snotlout.

I finished my dinner and looked up to see Hiccup say to Astrid, "So I guess we'll share…?" before Astrid merely said, "Read it." And then left.

Hiccup sighed as she went out the door. I felt bad and nudged him with my elbow.

"Looks like we're studying on our own tonight." I smiled at him. Hiccup grinned, relieved that he wasn't gonna have to be alone reading the Dragon Manual.

As the hubbub in the Great Hall died down, we got ready for our study session. Hiccup grabbed a candle as the torches were blown out while I grabbed a few spare matches. Hiccup and I then sat down and we opened the book.

Dragon classifications. Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class." He read aloud.

Turning the pages, we took turns reading aloud from the book about the different dragon species documented in it.

"Thunderdrum: This reclusive Dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight." I read next and the rest followed suit as Hiccup and I took turns.

"Timberjack: This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight."

"Scauldron: Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous."

Changewing: Even newly hatched Dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."

As we kept reading, I noticed along with Hiccup that every dragon had some unique method to kill its victim: burning, burying, choking, turning victims inside-out…how do they even _do _that?! And each dragon was labeled Extremely dangerous, even the small dragons!

A loud clap of thunder momentarily startled us but we continued studying. _Another _thing we noticed was that the Dragon Manual offered only one piece of advice for us on the dragons we had read about.

Kill on sight.

Well, that was pretty negative…

"This book could use some updating." I remarked, giving a slight whistle.

"Tell me about it." Hiccup said in agreement as he reached an almost blank page.

"Night Fury…" he read aloud.

I glanced at the page and read the stats with interest. "Speed unknown. Size unknown."

"The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Do not engage this Dragon." Hiccup picked up from where I stopped reading. Then we read the last line of words in the Night Fury page together.

"_Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you…"_

When we finished that, Hiccup and I looked at each other in shock.

"Now _this _page _really _needs updating." I whispered to Hiccup as he pulled out his notebook and opened it to the page where he had drawn the male Night Fury and placed it on top of the book.

Another peal of thunder clapped from outside.

And I immediately remembered the two Night Furies stranded in the Cove at Raven Point…

"Hey Hiccup…You think those two Night Furies are okay?" I asked quietly.

Hiccup could only shrug.

That's when I decided to tell him my secret. "You know…Back when Eli was alive, the two of us often wondered if dragons could be tamed _and _trained." Hiccup looked at me in surprise.

"Zenna…I haven't heard you talk about Elias ever since he well…you know…" he said hesitatingly so as not to hurt my feelings.

"It was something only he and I talked about when you weren't around. Sorry if I kept it a secret from you…" I said apologetically.

"It's okay…You needed to get it out of your system, didn't you?" he asked me quietly.

"Yeah I did. But really…taming and training a dragon…Do you think that's possible?" I asked curiously.

Hiccup carefully thought about it for a bit and then looked me straight in the eye, suddenly serious.

"…_Maybe_…" he finally replied.

I nodded before noticing how intently Hiccup was looking at his drawing of the Night Fury. It didn't take a genius to figure out what my best friend was thinking and what he was planning next.

"Wanna visit those two Night Furies tomorrow? After Dragon Training?" he suddenly asked me. "Sure. But let's bring shields." I giggled. We laughed a little over our crazy plans for tomorrow before we finished studying and went back to our houses.

'_Tomorrow…Oh Thor, it's gonna be one heck of a day!_' I thought as I got ready for bed. By habit, I glanced at my family's portrait before I closed my eyes.

"Night, night Eli…" I yawned before I fell asleep.


	7. Forbidden Friendships

**Chapter Six is here! So sorry for making you guys wait but this was a very challenging chapter to write.**

**The reason? This you see, is the pivotal point of the story!**

**And a shoutout to my reviewer,**

**mayemerald9 **

**And also to my followers,**

**HotaruKitsune**

**Illusa**

**Killswich**

**RevolutionarySoul**

**Saphirabrightscale**

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**ViceDea**

**Yuriko-Rurinia**

**mayemerald9**

**And finally to my favoriters,**

**Illusa**

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**Saphirabrightscale**

**Syphon Aura**

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**ViceDea**

**Thank you all so much!  
Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD**

**Chapter 6: Forbidden Friendships**

The wind whistling in my ears slowly brought me out of my deep sleep. Opening my eyes, I saw the clouds, the sky…and the female Night Fury right underneath me.

"_Holy Shields!_" I yelped as I realized that I was _riding _her.

She didn't seem fazed by my startled outburst nor did she mind my arms around her neck as I clung to warm, scaly hide for dear life.

Needless to say, I was _freaking out._ How on earth and Valhalla did I end up so high in the sky?! I could've sworn I was in bed a while ago!

"What's going on…? Who are you…? Why am I…?" I babbled, unable to do anything except bury my face in the female Night Fury's head.

Suddenly I heard a _very _familiar voice calling me…

"_Zenna…Zen…_"

Carefully I looked up from the female Night Fury's neck. Then a pair of hands covered my eyes.

"_Hey!_" I shouted before wrenching the pair of hands away from my face. A laugh got my attention from behind.

"Man, Zenna I thought you didn't scare easily."

Fuming, I looked over my shoulder…and saw Elias grinning at me. My expression instantly went from mad to soft in just one second.

"…_Eli_…?" I said in both shock and amazement. He smiled at me.

"You're a natural, you know that?" he told me, gently brushing my black hair behind my ear.

I was puzzled.

"Natural at what?" I asked, confused.

Elias just smiled and lightly tapped the female Night Fury's back.

Suddenly the female Night Fury began to climb up higher into the sky. A great ray of sunlight startled me into covering my eyes. When I opened them again…I was back in bed.

Confused, I sat up and looked around. Had it all been a dream…?

Glancing at my family portrait, I got out of bed and dressed. The dream was still fresh in my mind. I was riding a dragon with my brother…I had to admit, it was a pretty cool dream. But I had no time to dwell on it now! There's training and work to be done! I quickly cleaned the house, fixed myself up a quick bite to eat and made my way over to the arena.

Today's gonna be one hell of a day!

And man was I right.

Today's lesson was all about attack. And we had the Deadly Nadder as our opponent. To add to the fun, all seven of us had to navigate our way around a giant maze Gobber had set up. How he managed to put it up, I have no idea.

I clutched my sticks and shield as I ran through the maze. As I passed by Hiccup, I overheard him asking Gobber on the lack of info on Night Furies in the Dragon Manual.

"Focus, Hiccup! Let's talk about it later!" I whispered to him before the Nadder appeared and blasted my shield and his spear out of our hands.

"Focus, Hiccup! Today is all about _attack! _Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter." Gobber instructed us from his safe perch.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" Fishlegs yelped as he ran around, panicking.

"You and me both, 'Legs! You and me both!" I sighed as I tried to stay ahead.

"Look for its blind spot. Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it and strike." Gobber instructed to the Twins. The only thing Ruffnut and Tuffnut were able to do when the Nadder was right in front of them was argue before they were attacked by its poisonous tail spines.

Running past Gobber, Hiccup skidded to a halt and asked, "Hey, so how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?"

Oh Gods!

"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there!" Gobber yelled at him before I grabbed him and rushed off with him.

"Like I said earlier, we'll talk about it _later!_" I told him. Still my friend was persistent.

"I know, I know, but hypothetically-…" he managed to ask before we heard Astrid who was near us in the maze with Snotlout.

"_Get down!_" she whispered as she and Snotlout crouched down behind a maze wall, the Deadly Nadder just mere inches away.

Carefully, I got down with Hiccup and followed our two classmates in a tuck and roll. I managed to get out safely. Hiccup…not so much. I thought about telling Hiccup to hide in the Nadder's blind spot but he managed to get up and run. I decided to come at it from behind as it knocked down several maze walls. I managed to scale up a steady one and carefully but swiftly hopped across the gaps.

Suddenly I saw Astrid jump (_turns out she was doing the same thing as me_) and scream, "_Hiccup!_"

I managed to catch up with her only to see her on top of Hiccup, her axe embedded in her shield.

'_Well at least they're close…in a literal sense, that is._' I thought, amused as I heard the Twins jeer.

"Oooh! Love on the battlefield!" Tuffnut snickered.

"She could do better." Ruffnut chimed in.

I made a mental note to give those two a good whack on their heads with my sticks later.

Anyway, the Nadder was just a few feet below me so I psyched myself up and readied to pounce.

"HYYYAAAAAHHHH!" I yelled as I jumped and raised both sticks to deliver a blow when Astrid managed to get her axe (_and a bit of Hiccup's shield_) and swatted the Nadder hard in the face. It squawked and went away like a frightened chicken.

Unfortunately, I landed on the ground in a heap. It was a miracle nothing got broken.

"Well that killed my shot…" I muttered as I got up, dusting myself off. Man that was painfully embarrassing!

Astrid then turned to Hiccup who was still on the ground.

"Is this some kind of joke to you?! Our parents' war is about to become ours. _Figure out which side you're on._" She snapped at him.

Hiccup couldn't answer, he just got up and left without a word.

Alright, this was personal…

I marched up to Astrid and gave her a glare. "One piece of advice, Astrid: Don't underestimate Hiccup. He _does _know which side he's on. He just needs a little work. But one of these days, he'll get even better than _you._" I said coolly.

The others gasped at what I said. Astrid matched my glare.

"Is that supposed to be an insult or a threat?" she asked me coldly. I calmly smiled. "Neither. Like I said, it's just a little piece of advice. You should consider following it." I said before turning heel and walked out of the arena.

Astrid's known to be tough. Not many people would dare cross her. But unlike them, I wasn't scared because I was just as tough as her. She's nice enough most of the time. I just…wonder why she's so hard on Hiccup. Did she even know that whenever's she's around, Hiccup's a _lot _klutzier than usual? (_Don't tell him that._) Number One reason: He's crazy head-over-heels in love with her!

Anyways, I went to my house to get a fish and a shield since the Nadder blasted my old one earlier. Hey, if I got a chance to get close to one of the Night Furies, I might as well try to earn their trust with food.

After I chose a big one, I ran to the forest to catch up with Hiccup. He had a fish and shield as well but seemed a little down.

"Forget about what Astrid said, Fishbone. She probably didn't mean it." I told him, hoping to cheer him up even though I used his nickname.

Hiccup turned to me with a slight glare. "Okay, I won't call you '_Fishbone_' anymore." I said apologetically.

"My whole life, everyone's been calling me useless, weak and a _mistake! _You Zenna, on the other hand, are as great as Astrid when it comes to being a shield maiden. Everyone likes you and wants to be friends with you. So of all the people you could choose to hang out with…Why'd you pick _me?_" he asked, frustrated.

I was slightly taken aback but managed to reply.

"Because when Elias and I first arrived, you were the very first one to be our friend. Sure you're not exactly the strongest, or the mightiest, or the toughest. Basically you're…_different._" I said.

Hiccup rolled his eyes at me.

"Thank you for summing that up." He mumbled sarcastically. I smiled.

"You're _different, _Hiccup. And I _like _different. Elias did too. That's what makes you Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. You're _dif-fer-ent!_ And different's good in my book." I told him before putting a hand on his shoulder as a goodwill gesture.

He seemed to study me for a few minutes to see if I was telling the truth before he finally smiled that crooked grin I've always been fond of.

"Well come on! Are we gonna see those two Night Furies or what?" I laughed before we merrily made our way to the Cove.

Hiding behind our shields, Hiccup and I slid down into the Cove. Hiccup was in front of me and as he was about to go in, his shield got wedged between the rocks. I sighed, dropped my shield and put down my sticks and tried to help him get the shield unstuck. Finally, Hiccup just got down on his hands and knees and crawled under it. That shield was going nowhere so I just followed him.

We each had our own fish and we clutched them close to us as we looked around for the elusive Night Furies.

But they were nowhere to be found…

Confused, I glanced up at a small rock pile…and my breath caught in my throat. I nudged Hiccup to look in my direction. He did and gasped.

The Night Furies were watching us.

We took a step back as they got down from their stalking post. Hiccup tried to give the male Night Fury his fish but then it growled at him. Hiccup opened his vest to reveal the small dagger he had in his belt and then _both _Night Furies growled.

Carefully, Hiccup took out his dagger, dropped it to the ground and used his foot to toss it into the pond. And to our surprise, their expressions softened and they sat like tame dogs. I had to smile a little at the female. She had that obedient yet curious as a cat look that was just so cute.

The two Night Furies began to come towards us and our fish, their mouths open revealing soft pink gums.

Wait a minute…

"_Toothless…?_ I could've sworn you had…" Hiccup said in a confused tone before sharp teeth popped out of the two Night Furies' mouths!

"Oh Thor…" I managed to gulp before the fish were snatched out of our hands and in two quick gulps, were in the two Night Furies' stomachs.

"…_teeth._" Hiccup finished.

Turns out Night Furies have _retractable _chompers.

Learn something new every day…

But my amusement quickly turned into fear when the Night Furies began to walk towards us slowly.

And Hiccup and I didn't have any fish left.

Scared, we backed up against a slab of rock as the dragons continued to get near us.

"We don't have any more!" Hiccup squawked.

"I'm sorry, but we're fresh out." I said, voice quavering.

Then to our confusion (_and later, our disgust_), they made some weird noises from the backs of their throats and each regurgitated half of their fish. The tail from the male for Hiccup and the head from the female for me.

Hiccup and I looked at each other, confused and back at the dragons who were sitting on their haunches. They looked at us expectantly and then I realized what they wanted us to do. I glanced at Hiccup who had the same idea since he gave me a disgusted look.

But I guess if we wanted respect, we had to give respect.

'_Oh Loki…Why have you forsaken me?_' I thought as I took the fish head into my hands…

Oh Gods, was it disgusting just _holding _it!

It was wet, warm and slimy and the reek of fish assailed my nostrils.

I swallowed loudly, already feeling sick to my stomach.

Then I saw Hiccup bravely take a bite out of his fish tail. His cheeks bulged out as he struggled to chew and managed to swallow. Following his example, I gingerly took a small bite.

My stomach recoiled at the taste.

It was horrible!

And being covered in warm dragon saliva did _not _make it taste any better than a cold piece of fish.

But I looked at the female Night Fury who gave me a waiting look. Finally after what seemed like an eternity of chewing, I managed to gulp down that revolting piece of fish. I shuddered as it made its way into my stomach and looked at Hiccup. He looked just as green as I was but gave the male Night Fury a crooked grin.

Holding my lunch down, I looked up at the female Night Fury and gave her a smile while trying to hide the fact that I did _not_ enjoy eating the fish she shared with me.

The dragons seemed curious of us smiling and to our amusement tried to copy our smiles, pink gums showing through their slightly open mouths. Hiccup and I both smiled a bit and reached out our hands to pet them. But no sooner had we stretched out our hands, the two Night Furies both growled at us and moved away from us.

So much for the direct approach…

"What do we do now?" I asked Hiccup. He shrugged.

"Just observe. That was our original plan, remember?" he told me.

"Oh, right!" I said and we did just that.

We watched the two Night Furies all afternoon.

They were definitely mates since they were always together, crooning, warbling and nuzzling each other. When they decided to take a rest break they either hung upside-down on trees like bats or warmed up a patch of earth with their fire and curled up together.

Curious, Hiccup and I tried to get closer and managed to plop down a few inches away from them on their dirt bed before they looked at us sharply.

"Hi…" I mumbled, wiggling my fingers in greeting.

Again, they left us to sleep in the trees.

Sighing, Hiccup and I went back to our old spot. Feeling bored, we each grabbed a stick and began to draw in the sandy earth. Hiccup, being the better artist than me, lightly drew the male Night Fury while I tried my luck and made a somewhat lopsided drawing of his mate.

We only stopped drawing for a few moments when we felt the two Night Furies' presence. They watched us draw for a few seconds and then waddled off somewhere. Suddenly, we heard the sound of trees being uprooted and then the two dragons went past us, both of them holding a small tree in their mouths. They dragged their trees across the dirt.

They were drawing too!

A swish here, a curve there and finally they jabbed their branches into the dirt.

Hiccup and I looked at the intricate web of lines on the ground. Mostly just squiggles, lines and curves. Not exactly a composite sketch but it showed that they were smart to know that they were making their own version of art.

"They're smart ones, I'll give them that." I remarked to Hiccup as we stepped on one line.

And that's when the two Night Furies growled at us.

Startled, Hiccup and I took our feet off the line and they instantly calmed down. Hiccup looked at me and we both smiled.

We stepped on a line again.

The two Night Furies growled at us again.

Apparently, they thought we had no respect for their art.

Experimenting, Hiccup and I stepped on the lines a few times to test the two Night Furies' reactions.

Step on line, _angry._

Foot off line, _soft._

Step, _angry._

Off, _soft._

Angry.

Soft.

After a short while, Hiccup and I both stepped _over _the line.

The Night Furies watched us as we weaved our way around the intricate web of lines they drew. It was like a dance of sorts as Hiccup and I avoided stepping on the lines and tried not to bump into each other that often.

When the two of us reached an open space, we felt the dragons' warm breaths on our necks. Turning around carefully, we looked up at the two Night Furies. We tried to reach out to them but they growled at us again. Hiccup and I looked at each other, then back to the two Night Furies for a few minutes before we looked away…and stretched out our hands to them.

I was kind of nervous. What if the girl Night Fury bit my hand off?

Or worse…

Suddenly, I felt something warm and scaly press into the palm of my outstretched hand…

It was if time had stopped and the world shrunk down until it was just me, Hiccup and the two Night Furies.

This was utterly a-ma-zing.

I was actually _touching _a real, live Night Fury!

Taking a deep breath, I dared to look at the female Night Fury and at Hiccup. Like me, Hiccup was also looking up at the male and at me. We both stared at each other in stunned silence. The two Night Furies had their eyes closed but opened them after a few seconds. After looking at us, they snorted like what they did was pretty dumb and swiftly left.

Hiccup and I looked at each other again.

"Hiccup…Something tells me that our lives…will never be the same ever again…" I said slowly.

He nodded, "You read my mind." Before glancing up at the twilight sky.

"Oh Thor! We've been here all afternoon! We need to go!" he yelped.

We proceeded to climb out of the Cove. I glanced back at the two Night Furies.

The male retracted his teeth and proceeded to make him and his mate a place to sleep while the female, just for fun, shot out a plasma blast that hit the center of the pond.

"Wow…Talk about a striker…" I murmured as Hiccup helped me out of the Cove.

'_Hmmm…Stryka…Not a bad name…_' I thought as we made our way back to the village.

"Hey, Hiccup…Would it be weird if we _named _those two Night Furies?" I asked him.

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean to say, if we named them we don't have to keep calling them it, him or her…And I…kind of like the girl Night Fury and wanna name her _Stryka._ What do you think?" I asked timidly.

Hiccup pondered it for a brief moment before he said, "I don't see why not. I was thinking of naming the male _Toothless._"

"Because of his teeth?" I asked coyly.

He smiled and nodded.

**The bonds have been formed! Now the adventure truly begins!**

**Until the next chapter!**


	8. New Tail and New Beginnings

**So sorry for the wait! With Holy Week and all, I had some family bonding to do. Plus I was kind of going through writer's block but it's gone now.**

**Anyways read and review.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD and all rights go to DreamWorks Animation.**

**Chapter 7: New Tail and New Beginnings**

Later that night, we had dinner at one of the watchtowers with Gobber and the rest of the teens. Once again, Gobber was regaling us with the story how he lost his arm and leg. I pretended to listen as I ate my chicken although I've heard the tale a bunch of times already.

"Isn't it weird that your hand was inside the mouth of a dragon? Like if you were still able to control it…" Fishlegs quipped.

I piped up, "Fishlegs, his hand was bitten clean off. The brain wouldn't be able to control it since the nerves don't have anything to control anymore. (_Fun fact: Zenna has slightly advanced medical knowledge so she knows a thing or two about human anatomy._) And even if he still could, the hand would've already been ground to a pulp. Same thing with the leg."

Snotlout then proclaimed, "I swear I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot! I'll take every dragon down within a five-mile radius! _With my face!_" Clearly another try to impress Astrid who just scoffed.

Gobber just chuckled as he took a bite out of his meal. "Well it could've been worse if Elias hadn't…"

My chicken leg dropped into the fire and my head snapped up.

I haven't heard _this _part of the story before…

"Uh, Gobber…" Hiccup looked at me anxiously.

"No! Keep talking. What…_happened?_" I asked, locking my violet eyes with the blacksmith's.

"Well just when those dragons gobbled up my leg and were about to go for more…Zenna, your brother came in and did something very…_odd._" Gobber said carefully.

"Odd, how?" Astrid asked him.

The blacksmith heaved a sigh. "He tried to…calm them down by placing both of his hands on their snouts. But a Monstrous Nightmare suddenly came in and…well you all know what happened next."

My heart dropped to my feet as realization hit me…

_My brother died trying to tame a dragon._

"Okay, that's weird." Tuffnut remarked.

"Even for Eli." His sister agreed with him.

I stood up and said in a hollow tone, "I'll see you guys in the morning…"

Hiccup gave me a worried look before I left the watchtower.

Tears began to well up in my eyes as I raced home, running as fast as my legs could carry me. As soon as I entered my house, I teetered over to the fireplace and fell to my knees as the first sob came out. I curled up there, crying for Thor knows how long.

Why didn't anyone tell me?!

Mom and Dad never really told me all the details of how Elias died, save for the fact that he was killed by a dragon.

But Gobber knew…and he never told me!

What about Hiccup? Did _he _know?

The door suddenly creaked open, making me look up. Hiccup stood in the doorway, a rolled up blueprint tucked under his arm and a concerned look on his face.

"Hey Hiccup…" I sniffled, wiping my face with the edge of my sleeve.

"You okay, Zenna?" he asked softly. I nodded but remained near the fireplace.

Hiccup went over to me and knelt in front of me, giving me a hug. I buried my face in his shoulder as we embraced for a few minutes. Hiccup and I rarely hugged but I always loved his hugs even if he rarely hugged me. Just one of the things I loved about him as my best friend.

"It's about Elias, isn't it?" he asked me as we let go of each other.

"What about you? Did _you_ know about it?" I countered.

His eyebrows went up in surprise but he shook his head.

"Believe me, I was surprised when Gobber mentioned that." He replied.

Slowly I nodded before I asked one more question. "Elias tried to tame and _train _dragons…You think we can finish what he started?"

Hiccup seemed deep in thought before he unrolled the blueprint he had with him.

My jaw dropped.

It was a detailed plan for a mechanical tailfin, very well thought out and drawn by a lefty. (_Hiccup's left handed. As for me, I'm kind of ambidextrous.) _

"When you left, Gobber mentioned that _a downed dragon is a dead dragon._ I'm not gonna let that happen to Toothless. So…what do you think?" he gave me a serious look.

I looked at the tailfin plan in amazed shock.

"I know, I know…It's crazy, isn't it?" Hiccup sighed.

Quickly, I shook my head. "More like crazy _brilliant. _Can I help?"

My friend looked surprised. "You _do?_" he said in shock. I grinned at him and nodded.

He then gave me his signature crooked grin and left my house. Tonight, we were going to create the craziest invention ever-a prosthetic _dragon _tailfin!

We worked in the forge all night. Smelting old iron weapons to create the necessary components such as the connecting rods and fin base. Hiccup managed to get a few scraps of leather and sewed them up to cover the tailfin's metal frame. Together we hammered, forged, smelted and sewed all the parts together.

By midnight, _success! _The mechanical tailfin was finished.

"You've really outdone yourself, Hiccup." I smiled proudly as he folded up his finished work.

He grinned at me and said, "Let's test it out tomorrow on Toothless."

We nodded at each other before heading back home to get some shut-eye.

Early in the morning with two big baskets of fish, Hiccup and I walked over to the Cove.

"If that tailfin works and Toothless will be able to fly, I'm joining you guys up in the air." I said, excited beyond comprehension.

"Will Stryka even _let _you get on her?" he asked me as he shifted his basket's weight.

"Hey, there's a first time for everything." I shrugged nonchalantly.

Arriving at the Cove, we called out to the dragons.

Hey Toothless, are you hungry?"

"Stryka, breakfast!"

As if they knew what we called them, the two Night Furies appeared out of the brush. Their eyes widened as we emptied the fish onto the ground.

"We've got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod and a whole smoked eel…" Hiccup said enticingly, tucking the prosthetic tailfin as the dragons surveyed our offerings.

Suddenly they both reared up and growled at the sight of our smoked eels!

"Dragons hate _eels_…Who knew?" I quipped as I quickly got rid of Stryka's eel.

"It's okay! I'm not much of an eel fan either." Hiccup calmed Toothless down by tossing the black and yellow thing into the pond.

"I hate eels too. They look way to weird to eat." I remarked.

Stryka seemed docile enough so I tried petting her head as she ate. Thankfully, she was cool with it. But when Hiccup got behind her mate with the tailfin, she looked at him suspiciously.

"It's okay, Stryka. He won't hurt Toothless." I reassured her as Hiccup struggled to place it on Toothless' ever moving tail.

'_Most likely __**Hiccup's **__gonna be the one who gets hurt…_' I thought as he finally pinned down Toothless' tail and began attaching the tailfin. Toothless and Stryka looked confused.

But when Hiccup said, "Hmmm…Not bad…It works…" that's when both of them knew.

Toothless, with an awestruck look, spread his wings.

I only had a second to say, "Uh-oh…" before _Whoosh!_

Toothless took to the air, with Hiccup on his tail!

"Open the fin! Open the fin!" I shrieked when I saw Toothless' flight falter as they flew across the Cove's pond.

Luckily Hiccup heard me and opened the tailfin when the two of them were close to hitting the ground. Toothless regained altitude and flew out of the Cove, much to my and Stryka's relief.

Then taking me by the collar of my tunic, Stryka hoisted me onto her back and took off as well!

"Ohhh Holy Shields!"

Talk about déjà vu and dream come true!

We soared on over to Hiccup and Toothless.

"Oh my…! I-It's working!" Hiccup shouted in glee, yanking the tailfin to make Toothless do a banking turn back to the Cove. Stryka and I went back too.

But then, Toothless whipped Hiccup off of him and that caused them to both have a splash landing while us girls landed safely on the ground.

"Yeah!" Hiccup burst out of the water and although he was soaking wet pumped his fists in the air triumphantly.

"It worked! Odin All Father, _it worked!_" I laughed as I got off of Stryka, my hair rumpled by the wind.

"That was incredible!" Hiccup exclaimed, joining me on dry land. "Heck, yeah it was incredible! We rode dragons, Hiccup. _We rode dragons!_" I exclaimed as well.

Toothless had gotten out of the water and was now seemingly excited as we were, showing off his tailfin to Stryka. She just rolled her eyes and wiggled her tail to amuse him, as mates usually do I suppose.

"We'll need to make some adjustments of course." Hiccup grinned. "Awesome, I'll see if I can sneak some materials out of my place." I smiled as we left the Cove so we could head over to the arena for our training. On our way to the arena, we stopped by the market to buy two eels costing two gold coins each.

"We keep them hidden in our vests. That way the others won't get suspicious." Hiccup told me as we left the market and slipped the eel into his empty basket.

"Isn't this like…cheating?" I asked him, handling the slimy eel carefully. Hiccup shrugged.

"We're just putting something we learned to good use. Nothing wrong with that, right?" he replied.

I thought about it for a minute.

"…You have a point there, my friend." I sighed, shaking my head in amusement as we went on our way.

Today's dragon we were up against was the Hideous Zippleback.

"A wet dragon head can't produce fire. A Hideous Zippleback is very tricky. One head emits gas and the other lights it. Your job is to figure out which is which." Gobber instructed us as green gas swirled around.

I tried my best not to breathe any of it in. According to my brother, Zippleback gas can make you nauseous. Each of us had a bucket filled with water that we had to pour on the Zippleback head that shot out the sparks.

That's gonna be a difficult task since it's impossible to know which head shot out what.

As usual, Fishlegs was whispering to us facts about the dragon until Hiccup hissed at him, "Will you please stop that?!" Then we heard some yelps.

Snotlout and Tuffnut had gotten attacked by one of the heads along with Astrid and Ruffnut. Cautious, me, Hiccup and Fishlegs huddled together as the silhouettes of the heads swarmed us.

Finally, one head poked out of the noxious mist.

"_Now, Fishlegs!_" Gobber yelled.

Fishlegs dumped water on the Zippleback head.

Too bad it was the wrong one.

No sooner after that, the other head appeared, arching up its neck. With a grunt, Hiccup and I tossed all our water out, not getting even one drop on the head.

"Oh great…" I muttered before I saw Hiccup slightly open his vest, exposing the eel to the Hideous Zippleback.

Quickly I caught on and opened mine, showing the eel draped around my neck. The Zippleback immediately cringed at the sight. We held our hands out and waved the dragon back to its cage, keeping our back to the others so they wouldn't see our ingenious plan. As soon as we got the Zippleback back to its cage, we tossed our eels in there and closed the doors before turning back to the others.

Ha! Their shocked expressions-priceless! Fishlegs even dropped his water bucket!

"Okay! So are we done? Cause…see 'ya!" Hiccup said before making a hasty exit.

"See you tomorrow!" I chimed in, running after him.

As soon as we were in the safety of the forest, we burst out laughing!

"Oh Odin, that was rich! Did you the looks on their faces?!" I laughed as we walked to the Cove. "I know! It was hilarious!" Hiccup chuckled as we got to our destination.

Suddenly we were tackled to the ground…by our dragons.

Yep, I said it.

From now on, Hiccup and I were putty in Toothless' and Stryka's paws. They belonged to us and we belonged to them.

And the four of us knew that our bond and friendship…would last forever and ever.

**Read and Review ;) Next chapter will come soon!**


	9. Welcome to Real Dragon Training

**So sorry for keeping you guys waiting! Here is a late Easter Egg for you all.**

**Read and review whenever and whatever you want.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD.**

**Chapter 8: Welcome to Real Dragon Training**

For an entire month and a half, Hiccup and I learned all sorts of things. Forget _killing _dragons, we could _train _them!

It all started when we made the saddles.

Sneaking scraps from the forge and our houses, Hiccup and I made the things that would help connect us to our dragons up in the air.

"I think you should modify the left stirrup. That's where Toothless' tailfin is." I advised Hiccup the night we were finishing the saddles up.

"I'll work on it soon. Almost forget about that, thanks Zen." He smiled.

The next day we showed the finished saddles to Toothless and Stryka. But getting them on…wasn't so easy.

"Hey!"

"Aw, come on! Get back here, please!"

Hiccup and I had to chase them around the Cove for several minutes until we managed to strap the saddles onto their backs. Whew, what a workout!

Now onto the exciting part-_flying!_

Stryka and I were doing pretty well. We trusted each other well enough to let me control Stryka on which way to turn and for Stryka to do what she thought was best without my consent. I smiled as we flew around the Cove with Hiccup and Toothless, the latter holding a string to keep the former's tailfin open. We hadn't exactly yet figured out a way to connect the tailfin to the saddle's left stirrup so Hiccup could open it while on the saddle.

For a while, everything was going great…until Hiccup yanked on the string the wrong way and _I _decided to do a mid air loop trick without holding onto the saddle.

_Splash!_

First it was Hiccup followed by me then Toothless. Stryka patiently waited for us as we waded to shore.

"We're gonna need something to hold on…" Hiccup mumbled as he jotted down notes that night on my house's front porch.

"Like riding vests, maybe?" I asked, showing him a design. It was a rough sketch but it looked like a sensible solution.

We both agreed on this and made the vests that same night. They worked pretty good! The next day, we were able to do all sorts of tricks and learned something new.

Hiccup and Toothless had crashed into a field of tall grass. When I got off Stryka, she started rolling around in the grass while purring like a cat. Toothless was doing the same thing.

Hiccup pulled up a sprig of the grass and studied it. "What should we call it?" I asked him. The grass smelled garlicky and herby. "How about…_dragon nip_?" Hiccup suggested. I nodded, thinking it suited the plant very well.

That same day, our training was with the Gronckle.

And thank Thor we thought ahead and stuffed our pockets with dragon nip!

The Gronckle had already blasted everyone except me and Hiccup. Nervous, we shoved our hands forward as it zoomed straight towards us, holding sprigs of dragon nip. When we managed to bring ourselves to look, whoa!

The Gronckle's eyes were wide as if in ecstasy. That's when we learned that we could _**use dragon nip to calm dragons down**_. Hiccup then moved his hand to the side to make the Gronckle fall over on its side. Lucky thing nobody looked close enough to see Hiccup's trick.

Once again, Astrid and everyone else were astounded at us. We were practically swarmed when we left the arena!

"I've never seen a Gronckle do that!" Snotlout exclaimed in awe. Hiccup and I just smiled and gave no comments before the former of us said, "I, uh…left my axe back in the ring. You guys go ahead, I'll catch up later!"

And he went back, nearly bumping into Astrid who did _not _looked pleased. Obviously because the _"runt" _was starting to get better than her.

"I told you that you shouldn't underestimate him." I said in a singsong voice. She just glared at me and I was okay with it.

"Alright, see you guys later! I've got stuff to do!" I started to leave.

"What kind of stuff?" Fishlegs called after me when I was already a few meters away following Hiccup's trail.

"Oh, just the usual stuff! Bye!" I shouted before I turned and went back to the Cove.

Hiccup had already taken Toothless' saddle off and was giving him a good scratch everywhere. I did the same thing with Stryka. She loved it!

Then Hiccup scratched Toothless under his chin. The mighty Night Fury then fell to the ground asleep, rumbling contentedly.

"Whoa…" I was curious and also gently scratched Stryka under her chin.

_Wham! _Same result.

Only Stryka's head landed on my right foot.

"_Owww!_" I yelped and Hiccup laughed as I got my foot out.

"Oh, shut up!" I gave him a playful shove, he shoved back and we both just laughed.

That was our second discovery: _**Dragons have a weak spot under their chins**_.

Give them a scratch there, they'll drop like flies.

At Dragon Training, we tried it on the Deadly Nadder. Astrid was about to charge in there when we quickly gave the dragon a good scratch in its weak spot. The Nadder instantly fell at our feet. Astrid was just shocked speechless.

Later that night when Hiccup and I came to the Great Hall for dinner, a crowd rushed over to us as soon as we sat down at our table!

Hiccup and I were really popular in the village now.

I glanced at Astrid who was sitting alone now that the other teens joined us. I motioned to her an empty spot beside me, inviting her to join us. She just set her cup down angrily and left. I sighed and shrugged to Hiccup as he watched Astrid head out the door.

"You think we can tell Astrid about Toothless and Stryka?" Hiccup asked me as we walked back to our houses together.

"Revealing them to Astrid…Hmmm…That's like telling Vikings to stop being Vikings." I told him but upon seeing his thoughtful look added, "…_Maybe someday…_" to which he nodded.

Our next discovery came when Hiccup had brought along some tools with him to the Cove so he could work on the saddles and Toothless' tailfin. I fiddled with my lucky silver pendant to pass the time.

That's when I noticed Stryka eyeing the tiny dot of light coming from the glinting silver. I moved my pendant to make the light move and surprisingly, Stryka pounced on it and tried to catch it in her paws.

"Hey, Hiccup! Check this out!" I called my friend over and showed him the trick.

It was so adorable watching Stryka chasing the light!

Hiccup used a shiny blacksmith's tool to create another light dot and Toothless started chasing it as well! That's when we both discovered that _**dragons are attracted to shiny objects**_.

We laughed as our dragons chased the lights around. "This could be useful…" Hiccup mused as we continued to play with them.

Later that day in Dragon Training, Gobber introduced us to our next opponent.

"Meet the _Terrible Terror!_" the large bar holding the cage doors shut was beginning to raise when a little door at the bottom opened and out rushed the cute, little Stoker Class dragon.

Yep, it's small and cute. But there's a reason why it's called the _Terrible Terror._

"Ha! It's like the size of my…" Tuffnut managed to say before the thing hissed and lunged at him.

"Ohhh! Get it off!" he howled as the dragon tried to eat his eyes, ripping up bits of his clothes in the process.

We all just kept our distance. Anyone who tried to subdue this dragon was begging for trouble.

Then I glanced at Hiccup who got his shield ready.

"Keep the sun on the center…" I whispered to him.

He nodded and adjusted his hold on his shield.

The Terror was already biting Tuffnut's nose when the dot of light appeared on the ground.

"Oh, I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" Tuffnut yelled dramatically as he rolled on the floor.

The Terrible Terror scampered over to the light and followed it as Hiccup led it back to its cage and he shut the little door with his foot.

Once again, the others were amazed.

"Wow, he's better than you ever were." Tuffnut said to Astrid, rubbing his swollen sniffer.

Poor Astrid looked _really _pissed off…and also a little suspicious. I silently prayed to Odin that she'll get over it.

Then one day, we nearly got caught.

Hiccup and I were on our way to the Cove with Toothless' improved tailfin bundled up in Hiccup's arms and the saddles were with me. We were walking and talking shop when we heard the sound of an axe flying into a tree which could only mean one thing…

"_Astrid…_" Hiccup gulped. "Let's stay calm and act nonchalant. Maybe she won't notice us…" I murmured as the sound got closer.

Astrid was _definitely _mad about Hiccup showing her up in class. She flung her axe into several trees ducking, dodging and diving all over the place.

I'll admit, she's dedicated in training.

We tried to move as fast we could out of her training zone. But when she retrieved her axe, Astrid did a tuck and roll in our direction…and she saw us staring at her. She then just stood there, her mouth slightly open and her axe raised over her head.

Hiccup and I just stared back for one second before we both decided to make a run for it. Without looking back, we ran, rounded a corner and headed to the Cove.

I looked back to check. "That was a close one…" I sighed in relief when I saw that we were alone.

"We need to be more careful. If she manages to follow us next time…" Hiccup said as he attached the tailfin to Toothless.

"…we are toast." I finished for him, making a slicing gesture across my throat for emphasis as I put Stryka's saddle on her.

Hiccup then led Toothless to a nearby cliff overlooking the ocean. He drove a wooden peg into the ground and tied one end of a rope to it and the other to the saddle.

I raised an eyebrow. "You're gonna practice flying _tethered _to that?" I asked him as Stryka and I flew up into the air and hovered in front of him and Toothless.

"Yup." Hiccup nodded, getting on Toothless and used the new stirrup to open the tailfin. Toothless went up into the air by a few feet.

"Dude, if you wanna _really _fly, you gotta get into the open air. As in go high up." I laughed, shaking my head as Stryka and I flew up higher and did a few mid air spins.

"_Woo-hoo!_" I cheered. We were getting better at this everyday!

I glanced at Hiccup as I swooped down by the cliff. He was constantly testing the new tailfin. It's a good thing that after some time we finally found a way to connect the saddle's left stirrup with a connecting rod. All Hiccup had to do was push on the stirrup's pedal to either open or close the tailfin.

He pushed on it now and the fin closed. Toothless landed on the ground.

He opened the fin and they went back up in the air.

But then the wind got stronger and _snap! _

The rope snapped and they were flung backwards to the ground, Hiccup yelping in surprise. I went up and Stryka did a dive headed in their direction.

Then all of a sudden, I was hanging upside-down in my dragon's face.

"What the hell…?" I muttered, confused.

Stryka looked confused too and sat up on her haunches to let me roll onto her back. That's when I noticed that there was something wrong with the safety line connecting me to the saddle. Something was wrong with the hook and now there was no way I was gonna be able to take the safety line out, meaning that I was stuck to Stryka.

"Oh great…" I heard Hiccup groan.

He was beside Toothless, also in an awkward position and still attached to the saddle.

"We're gonna have to go the village for this." He muttered. I stared at him, my eyes wide. "You want us to bring two _Night Furies _into the _village _to repair their saddles in the _forge?_" I gaped at him.

Hiccup understood my concern. "We'll do it in the cover of night. We just need to sneak into the village, fix the saddles up real quick and head out the back. If we're lucky, we won't attract any attention." He told me.

"If we _are _lucky…" I pointed out.


	10. Test Drive and The Greatest Discovery

**Hey guys! Sorry if it took so long for an update. It takes time to transcribe the handwritten to typewritten.**

**Anways, read and review.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD**

**Chapter 9: Test Drive and The Greatest Discovery**

"Hiccup." "Oh hello, Zenna." A couple walked by and greeted us. Hiccup and I smiled and waved.

As soon as they were out of sight and the coast was clear, we coaxed Toothless and Stryka out of their hiding place which was the house we were leaning on.

Okay, for the record I thought that this crazy idea wasn't gonna work right off the bat. But so far, so good…

"_Shh…!_" I whispered as Stryka let out a small whine. She wasn't used to these unfamiliar surroundings.

Toothless started to head in the wrong direction and Hiccup quickly yanked on the saddle's safety cord, making him refocus.

Silently and stealthily, we made our way to the forge. For a while, nothing went wrong. We went in and were relieved to find the place deserted.

Then Toothless stuck his head into a bucket to look for fish while Stryka's tail accidentally knocked over a barrel filled with weapons. Hiccup and I put a finger to our lips and shushed them and cleaned up their messes before we started working on the saddles.

We were just about done when we heard a voice from outside.

"Hiccup, you in there?"

We froze in place.

"_Astrid!_" I mouthed to my scrawny friend.

Hiccup quickly went outside to distract her while I frantically did the final adjustments. I caught bits of the conversation outside while I tried to keep Toothless and Stryka quiet.

"I don't know what's going on but you're acting weird." Astrid said.

Toothless started to pull Hiccup back in.

Hiccup nervously laughed.

"Well, _weirder._"

That was the last thing I heard Astrid say before Hiccup got pulled back into the forge.

"_Fly for it!_" I whispered as we mounted our Night Furies and got the hell out of there.

We went out the back and took off into the night…

"I _told _you this was going to be a bad idea!" I told Hiccup as soon as we got to the Cove. "But we _fixed _the problem and no one saw us. That's what's important." Hiccup said while giving Toothless a scratch behind his ears.

I sighed and rubbed Stryka's head. "I guess you're right. But if it happens again and we _do _get caught…" I trailed off.

Hiccup looked at me.

"Zenna, what is it?" he asked me, his emerald green eyes reflecting my violet ones.

I sighed. I've had this weight on my chest ever since Hiccup and I met Stryka and Toothless and I _really _needed to get it off of me now…

"Hiccup, I'm _scared._ I'm scared of what might happen if everyone found out about our dragons. I've come to love Stryka. She's like Elias, she's special. She's like the sister I never had. If anyone found out about and tried to take her away from me I…I don't know what I'll do…" I confessed wholeheartedly, meaning every word I said.

Hiccup looked at me, surprised.

"I'm just…you know…scared…" I mumbled, feeling slightly embarrassed on how I poured my heart out just like that.

Then Hiccup surprised me by taking my hand in his and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Zen…_I'm scared too._" He confessed.

Toothless and Stryka then chose this moment to give us a few licks with their tongues. Hiccup and I laughed.

At least we got that weird awkward feeling out of the way…

"Tomorrow's gonna be our first test flight together…" Hiccup murmured to me as our dragons played in the Cove.

"You two better be careful unless you both wanna get a wallop from my sticks." I took one of my battle sticks and poked Hiccup in the ribs.

He laughed, I laughed and then we went home.

I don't really want to prolong the agony of anyone reading this story so I'll just summarize my and Hiccup's day _before _our test drive in one word: BOOORRIIIINNNGGGG!

Okay! Now that I've got that out of my system, here's the exciting and crazy fun part.

It was a perfect afternoon for flying. Stryka and I soared high in the sky, right behind Hiccup and Toothless.

"Alright, bud. We're gonna take this nice and slow." Hiccup told Toothless before glancing at his cheat sheet.

I sighed as he picked out positions.

"Lose the cheat sheet. Just let flying come to you naturally." I had told Hiccup when we lifted off but he was completely adamant about having a reference while he flew.

As usual, Hiccup was being stubborn. But that's _another _thing I've come to like and live with.

Anyways, Hiccup picked out a position, pushed on the stirrup and the tailfin fully opened up. Toothless smiled as they slowly gained altitude.

"Good work!" I called out to them. Stryka chirped encouragingly to her mate.

"Alright, it's go time…" Hiccup opened the fin again and along with us girls skimmed the water.

"Come on buddy, come on buddy!" Hiccup encouraged Toothless. "That's it, Stryka! You can do it girl!" I cheered as we passed under a stone arch.

"Yes, it worked!" Hiccup grinned. Then he and Toothless started to bump into the sea stacks.

"Sorry!" Hiccup apologized as Toothless bumped into one.

"That was my fault!" he apologized again as they hit another one.

Toothless gave him a slap with his ear plate as a scolding. "Be careful!" I whined as we flew alongside them.

"Yeah, yeah I got it! Position Three…no, Four…" Hiccup muttered before he and Toothless went higher. "Now _that's _what I've been waiting for." I grinned as we joined them.

"Yeah! _Go baby!_" Hiccup whooped.

"Alright! Now _that's _what I'm talking about!" I cheered, closing my eyes as we went higher.

"Oh this is amazing…The wind in my…_Cheat Sheet! __**STOP!**_" Hiccup's cheers suddenly turned into frantic yells, making my eyes snap open.

A piece of parchment fluttering away caught my eye. I looked up and saw Hiccup and Toothless a few feet higher than me and Stryka. To our horror, Hiccup's safety cord had been unlatched…

And he and Toothless began to fall!

"Oh Gods! Oh Gods, no!" Hiccup hollered as they plummeted.

"No, no, no, no, no, _Hiccup! Toothless!_" I screamed and Stryka let out a terrified shriek as I guided her into a power dive, hoping to catch them.

Our boys were uselessly flailing their arms, legs and wings (_in Toothless' case_) as they continued to fall.

I heard Hiccup frantically giving Toothless commands and I managed to yell, "Come on Hiccup, you can do it! Hang in there, Toothless!" Stryka was roaring in a panic along with me, scared for her mate and his Rider's lives.

A rock pillar zoomed by us. They were, _we _were, approaching the ground faster than we originally thought!

Finally, Hiccup managed to air swim closer to Toothless and strap himself back in!

"Pull up! And Hiccup _don't think, just do! _Just fly, Hiccup! _Just fly!_" I screamed at him when I noticed the trees getting closer.

Hiccup seemed to take my advice to heart and he and I pulled up, barely missing the treetops. We flew into a foggy part of the ocean, approaching the sea stack maze.

'_Don't think, just do._' I thought as me, Stryka, Hiccup and Toothless zigzagged around them, making snap decisions and just following our instincts.

All I can say about this is…_whoa_…just, _wow…_

At that very moment, we were like two beings, two entities. Dragons and Riders soaring through the air in perfect harmony. So when we came out of that deadly sea stack maze and back into the open air, Hiccup and I had the biggest grins on our faces.

"YEEAAAHH!" Hiccup yelled victoriously, throwing his hands up in the air.

"WOOO-HOOO!" I hollered, pumping my fists in the air.

Toothless and Stryka then fired plasma blasts in celebration-right in front of us.

"Come on!" "Oh man!" Hiccup and I both groaned as we met them head on.

I had to continuously pat my face and my head to make sure I wasn't on fire anymore when we reached a rocky islet. I glanced at Hiccup. His hair was thrown back and slightly blackened and singed along with his eyebrows!

I burst out laughing. He just looked so ridiculous! He looked at me from head-to-toe and licking his thumb and forefinger, put out a small lick of flame on my head.

I can't believe I didn't notice that…

"Thanks…" I mumbled sheepishly before I took out one of my sticks and gave Hiccup a slight whack on his back.

"What was that for?" he winced.

"For bringing a cheat sheet and not trusting your instincts." I told him off.

We looked around and walked about the islet. Just rocks, dirt and no vegetation whatsoever. When we got back to the spot where we left Toothless and Stryka, they'd already caught a bunch of fish which they heaped into a pile.

"Looks like it's dinnertime." I chirped.

The sun was slowly setting out in the horizon, a beautiful sight as Hiccup and I made a fire pit which our dragons lighted and got ourselves two fishes roasting.

We ate in silence as we watched the sun set.

I didn't know if Hiccup thought this as romantic or awkward, eating with his best gal pal while watching a sunset. For me, it was alright. I could even get used to it.

But friendship concerned, I knew Hiccup only had eyes for Astrid.

Me? Well to be honest, the first and probably last time I really fell in love was back when I was still living in the South. None of the boys in Berk never really caught my attention.

Anyways like I said to Snotlout, Hiccup and I are _just _friends and I'm okay with it.

When our fish got roasted, our dragons coughed up some more.

"Um, no thanks. I'm good." "It's okay. You can have it back." Hiccup and I politely declined.

We were gonna have to tell them that humans eat fish _cooked _and not raw and regurgitated like baby birds.

The fish attracted a flock of Terrible Terrors. Swarming like a flock of seagulls, they fought over the tastiest bits. Stryka and Toothless growled, not wanting to share their catch. A moving fish caught their eye as a cheeky Terror tried to make off with it.

Toothless growled, snatched the fish back and ate it, chuckling the only way a dragon can. The Terror was not amused and prepared to let out a fireball. A hiss of gas signaled that it was about to fire.

'_So dragons have to gas up before they shoot…Interesting…_' I made a mental note of that as Toothless blew a small fireball into the Terror's mouth.

The gas backfired and the Terror slumped to the ground, looking like a drunkard. I had to laugh again, it was just too funny!

"Huh not so fireproof on the inside, are you?" Hiccup chuckled before he said, "There you go." And tossed the little guy a fish.

"Oh relax, you two. It's just one fish." I chided Toothless and Stryka who looked offended.

The Terrible Terror ate the fish and then curled up between me and Hiccup. We looked at each other briefly before we silently started stroking the Terror as we leaned against Stryka and Toothless' flanks.

Slowly, a single thought entered my head…

Just as I was about to say it out loud, Hiccup whispered, "_Everything we know about you guys…is wrong…_"

I nodded in agreement with him and said, "Three hundred years…_We've _been wrong about _them._ And _they've _been wrong about _us._"

Then and there, Hiccup and I realized that we were _right._

Dragons weren't monsters. They were magnificent creatures and instead of fighting them, Vikings like me and Hiccup could train them, ride them…_befriend them._

"Elias would be so proud of us right now, Hiccup." I remarked. Hiccup smiled.

"He sure would…You miss him?" I looked at him, unsure on what to say. But then I managed to get my thoughts across.

"Every day…" I replied softly.

"Yeah…Me too…" Hiccup murmured. Then his eyes widened.

"Our parents…"

Well, _that _made me freak out.

Gods, I forgot that my parents and the adults that left on the Nest hunt had returned and that the sun was almost down!

"We better get going!" I yelped.

We got on our Night Furies and headed back.

"Now that your dad's back, we're gonna have to be _extremely _careful from now on." I reminded Hiccup when we got back to Berk and walked back to the village after leaving our dragons back at the Cove.

"You don't need to tell me _that _twice." Hiccup remarked as we stopped by the forge where Gobber wasn't around.

"Well then…see you tonight?" I asked him.

"Maybe. I've still got some work to finish up here." Hiccup replied, gesturing to a pile of worn out weapons in one corner.

"Alright, see ya Hiccup." I smiled as I left the forge.

**Next chapter will be up tomorrow. See ya ;)**


	11. Da-Da-Da, We're Dead!

**Little announcement guys!**

**My mom's birthday is tomorrow and the whole family's going on a road trip for about two days. Updates will resume on Monday I suppose. Till then, read and review **

**Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD and all rights go to DreamWorks Animation.**

**Chapter 10: Da-Da-Da, We're Dead!**

I was sketching a picture of me and Stryka when I heard my parents come inside the house. I quickly hid my paper and charcoal under my pillow as they came up.

"Mom, Dad, you're back!" I tried to sound genuinely surprised when they came up to my room and cheerfully hugged them. Of course, I really was _happy _to see them back and both in one piece.

"My precious gemstone! We've heard from everyone else. We're so proud of you, Zenna!" my dad laughed, ruffling my hair.

"Heard about what?" I asked, confused.

"Your exemplary performance in Dragon Training along with Hiccup. You two have quite a way with those beasts!" my mother smiled.

My heart sank when they told me about tomorrow's upcoming events.

"Tomorrow will be the trainees' last day before the Final Exam. They'll all have a chance to prove themselves before Gothi chooses the one who'll kill the dragon in the ring." My father told me.

I nodded but inside, dread was filling my insides.

What if _I _was chosen? I don't think I could ever use my sticks again to kill another dragon! I glanced at my battle worn sticks leaning against the wall, my heart clenching as I guiltily recalled the eight dragons I had killed.

"But…" my mother's voice made me focus on her and dad again.

"It's just that…your father and I have been thinking of pulling you _out _of Dragon Training. After all, you've always been a natural at fighting them. Perhaps there's no need for you to take that Final Exam. What do you say, love?" mom told me and waited for me to answer.

I could hardly believe my ears.

My parents were actually allowing me to _drop out!_

While I felt relieved, I was worried too. I was at a crossroad…

If I dropped out, what would everyone else think of me? But if I stayed, would I ever be able to handle harming another dragon again?

"…I'll think about it…" I said carefully. Mom and Dad nodded.

"Here…We have something for you." My father handed me a shield, beautifully painted violet with a black lightning bolt painted in the center. For some reason, it looked…familiar.

"It used to belong to Elias. I'm sure he would want you to have it." My mother smiled at me.

It all came back to me.

_This _was the very shield my brother had received when he graduated from Dragon Training. I remembered how happy he was when Gobber gave him that shield. It was bigger than him and really heavy but he held it up high with pride.

I smiled a little. "I love it. Thank you." I said, giving my parents another hug.

As soon as my parents went out my room, I got my drawing out again. I looked at it, my battle sticks, Elias' shield and _then_, my eyes landed on our family portrait.

"What do I do, Eli…? I'm in a rut here…" I sighed. '_Maybe a nightly stroll will help me clear my head…_' I thought.

Unfolding the ladder at my window, I climbed down. I don't really know why, but I brought Elias' shield with me. Whistling, I wandered around the village, greeting anyone I met.

My feet led me to the forge, where I bumped into Stoick the Vast.

"Good evening, Chief." I said politely. Stoick smiled and surprisingly, patted my head.

"You've been teaching him well. Thank you for that." He said and then left.

I stood there blinking in confusion. Did he think that _I've _been the one helping Hiccup improve? My thoughts were interrupted when Hiccup came out of the workshop with a helmet.

"Uh…So did you two have a talk or something?" I asked Hiccup.

Hiccup shrugged. "He caught wind of my…_improvement_. And…he was _actually _proud of me for once…" he mumbled, sounding rather surprised as well as he put on his helmet.

"Congratulatory gift?" I grinned. "A hat made from half of my mom's breast plate." Hiccup replied.

"That's nice…and kind of gross." I grimaced. "Yeah, I know…Hey, isn't that Elas' shield?" Hiccup pointed at the shield in my hand. "I had no idea my mom and dad kept it." I said.

Then my expression turned serious.

"Is your dad coming to watch us tomorrow?" my question made Hiccup bite his lip. "Yeah…" he said quietly.

"I've been thinking, Hiccup…Not really sure yet but…" I took a deep breath.

"I'm thinking of dropping out." I blurted. "What? _Why?_" Hiccup asked in shock, his eyes wide.

"I can't do it again, Hiccup. If I kill another dragon, my conscience will kill me!" I said in a slightly loud tone. Hiccup stared at me for a few seconds in shock.

"Look…I'm sorry. But tomorrow, I won't be there in the arena with you and I can't really protect you from the stands. I know I promised I'd look out for you…But I just can't do this anymore. I don't ever wanna kill another dragon ever again…" I waited for Hiccup to call me a bad friend.

Instead he said, "It's okay, Zenna. _I understand._"

"You _do?_" I said in surprise.

Hiccup gave me a crooked grin. "You've been looking out for me for seven years. I think it's time I cut you some slack."

It took a minute to process this before I smiled gratefully. "Just promise me you'll be careful not to get killed by the dragon _or _Astrid." I joked. Hiccup laughed. "Promise." He told me.

We fist bumped and left for home.

That night…I had another dream.

I was in the Cove playing with Stryka and Elias was watching me.

"Come on, Eli!" I laughed as Stryka tackled me and began nuzzling me in my ticklish spot-my tummy!

"_Ahahaha! _No…! Stryka…! _Bwahaha!_ Eli…little…help here…! _Hahaha!_" I giggled as my dragon began to blow raspberries on my belly, making me laugh even harder.

Elias laughed and helped me up. "Like I told you, Zen…you're a natural. A natural at befriending dragons." He told me.

"Oh, so _that's _what you meant." I wanted to tell him so much about everything! About Stryka, Toothless, Hiccup and all our good times together.

But then Elais took me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes, seriously. I gulped. I knew that look. He had something to tell me.

Something _very _important.

"I'm glad that you and Hiccup are picking up from where I left you, Zen. In fact, this is all you two. I tried but you're the ones who really did it. I'm glad about that…But Zenna…you and Hiccup _have _to be careful. By befriending two dragons, you two pretty much broke every known law in Berk related to fighting dragons. You two chose the right path…but it's a _dangerous _one. That's why you have to keep _both _eyes _open_. There's danger afoot…and you have to be ready." Elias told me, softly.

I nodded. "That's my little sister." Elias smiled before hugging me.

"I wish this dream never ends…" I sighed longingly. "All nightly dreams have to end when you wake up…But that doesn't mean they can't become reality." Elias whispered to me before there was a bright flash of light…

And I woke up.

"Keep _both _eyes _open_…You got it, Eli." I looked at my family portrait and smiled.

It was already morning so I got up, got dressed, had breakfast with my parents and we headed out to the arena. The other teens were already there. Hiccup caught my eye and nodded sympathetically. I stopped at the gates while the rest of them went into the ring.

"Well, Zen what're you waiting for?" Gobber grinned at me.

I looked at my parents, Hiccup and finally, my battle sticks and shield.

My mind was made up…

I joined my parents in the stands to watch.

'_Let them all stare for all I care._' I ignored any Viking who gave me weird looks. Even Stoick eyed me from time to time.

I dropped out of Dragon Training and that's that. Call me a coward, a pacifist, weak and I won't give a damn about it.

No way, _absolutely _no way, will I ever kill another dragon.

Hiccup chose to stay and I was okay with it.

'_This could be his only chance to prove himself to his father…He needs it so badly…_' I looked at Hiccup, awkwardly smiling at his dad, who was beaming with pride.

I could tell he didn't want to do this anymore as well. But I had a feeling he had _another _one-sided conversation with his dad last night and didn't have much of a choice.

They were facing the Gronckle, hiding behind small barricade walls while trying to avoid being blasted. One by one, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruff and Tuff were eliminated until it was only Hiccup and Astrid left.

I cringed. '_Please Odin, Thor, Freyr, Freyja, Loki, Magni, Baldr and all the Gods and Goddesses in Valhalla…__Please__ don't let the elder pick Hiccup…_' I prayed as I watched.

But today my prayer wasn't answered because the Gronckle had zeroed in on my unlucky best friend.

"YAAHH!" Astrid jumped over a wall and began charging towards the dragon with her axe, only to find it lying on its side next to Hiccup.

He probably used dragon nip.

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. There was no going back now. Hiccup was gonna be chosen to kill the dragon for sure.

"No! _Son of a half-troll! Rat-eating munge bucket…!_" I flinched slightly as Astrid let out a couple of curses. Hiccup tried to sneak his way out but Gobber stopped him.

"I'm kind of late for…" Hiccup managed to say before Astrid approached him with the curve of her axe at his throat.

"_What?! _Late for _what_, exactly?!" she snarled.

Yep, she's _really _pissed off now…

"Alright, quiet down. The elder has decided." Stoick boomed, standing up.

The whole arena went silent.

I looked at Gothi and desperately hoped she'd pick Astrid instead. Gobber put his left arm over her and Gothi shook her head. I inwardly groaned along with Hiccup when Gobber put his other arm over his head and Gothi smiled and nodded.

The whole ring burst into wild applause.

I politely clapped but deep down I was scared. What was Hiccup gonna do when the time comes and he _couldn't _do it? What was gonna happen next?

I had no idea…

The teens (_except Astrid, of course_) were now hoisting Hiccup up Fishlegs' shoulders, cheering for him.

"I am so excited! I am so…" Hiccup nervously laughed.

But I knew Hiccup well. I knew that the instant this crowd left and everything went back to normal, I knew what he was gonna do next.

"…_leaving! _We're leaving!" Hiccup hoisted the basket up his shoulders as we walked into the Cove.

"Let's pack up! Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation. _Forever._" He called out to Toothless.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay just by yourself with him? Stryka and I can always come with you." I had accompanied him as soon as we got out of the arena and even packed myself a few supplies.

"No. If you disappear, there'll be more trouble. Just…come up with an alibi or something." He told me.

"You mean tell the Chief you were captured by pirates? Or Outcasts?" I cocked my head at Hiccup.

"Whatever works fine. But the 'captured by Outcasts' story seems more believable." Hiccup said, absentmindedly checking his stuff, before fixing his gaze on a boulder-that Astrid was sitting on.

We jumped back in surprise.

"Wh-What're you doing here?!" Hiccup stuttered. "How did you…? When did you…?" I spluttered in shock.

Oh Odin, of all the people who could discover our secret haven why did it have to be _her?!_

Astrid finished sharpening her axe and got down. "I wanna know what's going on. No one just gets as good as you do. _Especially you._" She said, taking a step towards Hiccup with her axe pointed at him. Hiccup backed away but Astrid caught him.

"Start talking! Are you training with someone?" she asked suspiciously. "Uh…training?" Hiccup said uneasily.

"It better not involve _this!_" she hooked Hiccup's riding vest and he stammered out, "I know this looks really bad, but you see…this is, uh…"

"Astrid, just leave him alone. And for the record, he _has _been training-with _me._" I spoke up when a sound from the brush caught Astrid's attention and she tossed Hiccup aside.

"You're right! You're right. I'm through with the lies. Yep, I've been training with Zenna and I've been making…outfits." Hiccup said quickly going over to the suspicious shield maiden before she got too close.

I could've done without the 'outfits' part but hey, we were desperate.

Desperate to make Astrid leave before she discovered our '_little secrets_'

"So you got me. It's time everyone knew. Drag me back. Go ahead. Here we go." Hiccup placed Astrid's hand on his arm and began to make her go the other way.

But Astrid wasn't budging.

Instead, she grabbed Hiccup's hand, twisted it and his arm behind him and forced him to the ground!

"OW! _Why would you do that?!_" he howled.

To which Astrid replied, "That's for the lies!" with a kick to the shin.

"And _that's _for everything else!" then she bounced the handle of her axe on Hiccup's stomach.

Okay, that tears it!

"For crying out loud, Astrid just leave him alone!" I yelled before she jabbed the axe handle into my stomach!

"OUCH! Mother of Thor, that _hurt!_" I wheezed, clutching my stomach and falling flat on my back.

Then I heard a soft growl and turned my head in its direction.

My heart leaped into my throat.

Toothless and Stryka were just a few feet away from the three of us.

And Astrid had spotted them.

Hiccup had staggered to his feet before Astrid yelled, "_Get down!_" and tackled him to the ground-_again._

I would've been amused, if our dragons hadn't gotten the wrong idea and charged!

"_Run! Run!_" Astrid yelled, raising her axe.

Quickly, I jumped to my feet with Hiccup and we _both _tackled Astrid to the ground shouting, "_No!_"

I wrestled the axe out of Astrid's hands and flung it away while Hiccup tried to calm the two enraged Night Furies down. I quickly joined him.

"Whoa there! Easy you two! Easy!" I waved my arms at Toothless and Stryka, helping Hiccup calm them down.

"No. It's okay! It's okay…she's a friend." Hiccup said soothingly. Stryka and Toothless took a look at Astrid and then gave us a look that clearly said, '_Oh, so killing her is out of the question?_'

"It's alright. I disarmed her. She won't be able to harm you." I said calmly.

Then Hiccup and I faced Astrid who was now standing up, gaping at us.

"It's okay. You just scared them." We both said.

"_I _scared _them?!_" Astrid yelled at us before asking, "Who is "_them_"?"

"Astrid, Toothless and Stryka. Toothless and Stryka, Astrid." Hiccup and I made the introductions, hoping that something good will come out of this madness.

Astrid looked at our Night Furies who growled at her then back at us…and took off.

Should have known…

"Da, da, da! _We're dead!_" Hiccup deadpanned.

"Like really dead-_dead!_" I sighed.

Toothless and Stryka didn't seem to care. Heck, they even did a mild shrug and rolled their eyes before turning tail and began to leave!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Where do you think you're going?!" Hiccup hollered after Toothless.

"Stryka, if we don't get to Astrid before she reaches the village we'll _all _be in big trouble!" I told Stryka.

They finally let me and Hiccup get on our backs and we flew out of the Cove.

We had a Viking to catch!

**For those of you who are wondering, I still wanted Hiccup to have the most important role in the story so I had Zenna voluntarily drop out of Dragon Training. Also, Zenna can no longer handle her conscience (**_**since she had already killed eight dragons**_**) and doesn't want to kill dragons anymore.**

**Don't worry, she and Stryka will be fighting alongside Hiccup and Toothless in the final battle ;)**

**Till next chapter!**

**-GuardianDragon98 **


	12. The Calm Before the Storm

**Hey guys, I'm BACK!**

**Road Trip was so much fun but I am very happy to be back writing **

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD and all rights go to DreamWorks Animation.**

**Chapter 11: The Calm Before the Storm**

We didn't have to go far to reach Astrid. She was only halfway through the forest when we spotted her. Toothless caught her just as she jumped over a log.

"Oh, Great Odin's Ghost! Oh, this is it! Ahhh!" she screamed as Hiccup and Toothless carried her off the ground and dropped her off at the top of a really tall tree before they themselves settled on it while Stryka and I hovered near them.

"Hiccup! _Get me down from here!_ Zenna! I swear to Thor I'll make sure your parents and the whole village know about this!" she shouted at us angrily.

"You have to give us a chance to explain!" Hiccup pleaded with her.

"I am not listening to _anything _you two have to say!" Astrid retorted.

"Fine with me. See you in the afterlife!" I had to admit that this was rather amusing and pretended to leave.

"Zen!" Hiccup sounded desperate. "I'm kidding!" I laughed with Stryka.

Geez, can't a girl have a little fun every once in a while?

Hiccup tried a different tactic.

"Then I won't speak. Just let me _show _you." He said to the blonde girl dangling on a tree branch for dear life below him.

"I'd do what he says. Unless you wanna stay stuck there for the rest of your life or worse, I'd get on the saddle with him." I said to Astrid, nonchalantly reclining back on the saddle.

"_Please_, Astrid." Hiccup pleaded again. I watched Astrid as she struggled to decide.

'_Take your time…We're in no hurry…_' I thought, grinning deviously.

Finally, Astrid gave in and climbed onto Toothless' back. Toothless growled a warning and Stryka rumbled at him in a scolding manner.

"Alright…Now get me down." Astrid demanded.

"Toothless, down. _Gently._" Hiccup asked nicely.

"Three…" I started counting down as Toothless opened up his wings as a breeze began to blow.

"…two…" I whispered to Stryka who figured out what her mate was gonna do next and sighed.

"See? Nothing to be afraid of…" Hiccup grinned while his Night Fury had a mischievous smirk.

"…_One._"

Then, _bam!_

Toothless took off!

"And there it is!" I smiled as I watched my friends go up higher into the air. Stryka whined at me.

"Let's go make sure they don't kill themselves!" I said knowingly as we flew up.

"Toothless! What is wrong with you?! Bad dragon!" Hiccup shouted over Astrid's screams of terror as Toothless went higher.

With his dragon going loco, there's no way Hiccup will be able to use the tailfin to make him stop. The Night Fury was now in total control.

"I-I'm sorry. He's not usually like this…" Hiccup apologized weakly as I flew with them.

"You might wanna hang on." I advised him as Toothless began to drop.

"_Oh no…_" Hiccup moaned as they headed for the ocean.

I made sure Stryka and I were right behind them as Toothless' stunts continued. Now he was continuously dunking himself, Hiccup and Astrid into the water.

"Toothless, what're you doing? We need her to _like _us!" Hiccup exclaimed as water dripped off of him. I could see Astrid freaking out.

'_Any minute now, she'll snap._' I thought, smiling mischievously.

And Hiccup will finally have a chance to impress her.

I saw Toothless fly up and level out.

Oh boy…

"He's gonna corkscrew!" I yelled to Hiccup just as his Night Fury began to spin in the air.

"And now the spinning…" my friend drawled amidst Astrid's yelps.

"Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile." Hiccup said sarcastically as I joined him up on the clouds with Stryka.

'_Oh, you'll be thanking him later my friend…_' I shook my head as I caught Astrid's eye.

"Just apologize already." I told her.

Then Astrid finally breathed out, "Okay! I am sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off this thing…" she buried her face in Hiccup's tunic and tried not to look down.

That apology was exactly what Toothless, Stryka and I had been waiting for.

Toothless stopped spinning and leveled out, taking my best friend and his long-time crush on a most romantic flight above Berk. For once, Astrid was acting all girly while admiring the clouds and the beautiful sunset as the sky was painted soft oranges and pinks. At night, the moon shone, the stars twinkled and the aurora borealis lit up the night sky.

I managed to catch Hiccup's face light up as Astrid wrapped her arms around his waist. I chuckled to myself as I admired the view with Stryka.

"Alright…I'll admit, this is pretty cool…It's…_amazing_…He's amazing…" Astrid patted Toothless gently as we flew over the ocean.

"Don't forget her." I said jokingly, gesturing to Stryka who gave Astrid a gummy smile. "How long have you two been hiding them from all of us?" Astrid asked me and Hiccup. "About a month and two weeks, give or take." I replied before looking at Hiccup with a mischievous smirk.

"You saw everything?" he blushed. "Oh yeah." I grinned. Stryka and Toothless rumbled in amusement.

We continued flying in silence when Astrid said, "Hiccup, your Final Exam is _tomorrow…_"

As she was saying this, I saw Toothless' and Stryka's ears prick up.

"Uh, guys…" I said noticing that the two Night Furies were beginning to look nervous.

"You do realize you're gonna have to…kill a dragon…" Astrid whispered to Hiccup.

"Guys…" I said nervously as Stryka and Toothless continued to act all fidgety.

"Don't remind me…" Hiccup sighed. Finally I decided to hiss at them, "_Guys!_"

At that exact moment, Toothless and Stryka both did a banking turn and began to take us to who knows where.

"Whoa! Toothless, what's happening?" Hiccup tried to steer Toothless in the right direction but he was dead set on his course. "Stryka, what's going on? Where're you taking us?" I asked my dragon uneasily.

She and Toothless just kept going.

When they flew into a smoky cloud bank, we were startled by the huge swarm of dragons flying in the same direction we were going. And each of them had either a bunch of fish or livestock of some kind in their claws.

"It looks like they're hauling in their kills…" Hiccup observed. "What does that make us?" Astrid said fearfully. "Shh…!" I shushed her just as we arrived at our destination.

My eyes widened as we approached this huge caldera volcano, bubbling lava oozing from cracks in the black rock. If all the dragons were headed there then that could mean only one thing…

"_The Dragon's Nest…_" I whispered as we headed in. "What my dad wouldn't give to find this." Hiccup said.

The inside of the nest was covered in red smoke, the color resulting from the giant pool of magma in the center. Hundreds, thousands, no, _millions_ of dragons roosted in any available space.

Yep, this was the Nest alright…

The dragons that had flown in with us began dropping their kills into the magma pool, much to our confusion.

"Well it's satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped into a hole." Hiccup said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"They're not eating any of it…" Astrid looked on in stunned confusion.

"I don't think they're dumping it…It looks like they're making an offering…but to what?" I wondered out loud.

Then a tired-looking Gronckle buzzed on over to the hole and regurgitated one measly fish. An angry roar then sounded throughout the Nest. I felt Stryka stiffen up and all the other dragons backed off.

Then _it _appeared.

A giant, monster of a dragon's head suddenly came out of the magma and to our horror, swallowed the poor Gronckle in one gulp!

I gasped and put my hands to my mouth.

"What…is…_that?_" Astrid breathed out in shock. Hiccup looked just as horrified as we girls were and couldn't say anything.

"I'll take a wild guess and say _that_ is the reason why the dragons have been raiding Berk…" I said nervously.

That's when the _thing _saw us.

Quickly, Hiccup and I urged Toothless and Stryka to fly for it. The wild dragons were alarmed when the _thing _tried to catch us and flew around in terrified circles as the _thing _tried to get us. As we neared our escape, I looked back to see _it _grab a Hideous Zippleback in flight and ate it next.

After that, I couldn't bear to watch anymore and looked away. That _thing _wasn't a dragon. That _thing _was a _monster…_

"That's why…" Hiccup murmured, seeing how shook up Toothless and Stryka were. "We've always been wrong about you, haven't we?" I asked Stryka who purred in reply.

We then flew back to Berk, away from the Nest, away from…whatever that _thing _was.

All I could think of was that something told me bad things were gonna happen-_soon!_

"Whoa! Whoa! It totally makes sense, it's like a giant beehive! They're the Workers and that's their Queen. It controls them." Astrid remarked as we landed back in the Cove.

Stryka looked a little on edge so I was murmuring comforting words to her when I heard Astrid say to Hiccup, "Come on, let's go tell your dad!"

Instantly, my friend and I said, "_No!"_

"Astrid, they'll _kill _Toothless and Stryka. We gotta think this through…" Hiccup reasoned with Astrid. "The Chief won't believe us unless we have proof. And the only proof we have are _them._ And frankly, I don't think the village will accept them warmly." I added, gesturing to our Night Furies.

Astrid looked at us in disbelief.

"Hiccup, Zenna, we've just discovered the Dragon's _Nest._ The very think we Vikings have been searching for ever since we first sailed here. And you two wanna keep that a secret? To…To protect your pet dragons? Are you serious?" she asked us.

I bristled slightly at Astrid's '_pet dragons_' remark. Toothless and Stryka aren't our pets, they're our _friends!_

But Hiccup and I both said, _"Yes."_

Toothless and Stryka are our friends. And Hiccup and I will do everything we can to protect them.

For a minute, Astrid stared at us before finally turning to Hiccup. "Okay…So what do we do now?" she asked him.

"Just…give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out." Hiccup replied.

Astrid nodded and said, "Okay…" before punching him in the arm saying, "That's for kidnapping me." I just shrugged along with Toothless and Stryka (_who were both drinking some water_) when Hiccup looked at us.

Then to my surprise, Astrid leaned in and gave Hiccup a kiss on the cheek. "That's for…_everything else._" Astrid mumbled, looking slightly embarrassed and left.

Hiccup just stood there looking confused, dazed and happy all at the same time. I giggled as Toothless and Stryka went over to the two of us and I gave Hiccup a nudge.

He looked at us and saw our mischievous faces.

"Wh-What're you looking at?!" he stuttered, turning beet-red.

"Hiccup and Astrid, sitting in a tree! _K.I.S.S.I.N.G!_" I sang out as I danced around the Cove with our dragons. Hiccup just rolled his eyes. Then I stopped dancing around and looked at him seriously.

"You'll _really _be able to figure out a plan?" My question made him tense up but he looked determined.

"Well Zenna, I won't know until I try." Hiccup replied.

I nodded and, well I haven't really done this in a long while, gave him a hug. "No matter what happens tomorrow, Hiccup…_I'll be there for you._" I promised to him before I let go. Hiccup seemed rather surprised but gave me a smile.

Toothless and Stryka then nuzzled us affectionately.

"**Don't worry, bud. I'm not gonna let **_**anything **_**happen to you." **Hiccup promised Toothless.

"We won't let anyone and anything hurt you two. _We promise._" I swore to Stryka.

They gave us those gummy smiles we both love so much and went to sleep before we left the Cove.

It was quiet as we approached the village as we were still shaken up from what Hiccup and I had seen at the Dragon's Nest.

Then I remembered my dream and gave Hiccup a worried look.

"Uh-oh…I know that look…" Hiccup sighed.

"Hiccup…Elias also warned me of the dangers of us befriending dragons…I didn't really know _what _the dangers were…but now I do." I whispered before adding, "Just…_please be careful tomorrow._"

Hiccup nodded and squeezed my hand. "I will…_I promise._" He told me.

I nodded and we both went back to our houses.

**Little HTTYD 2 Bit in Hiccup's line in bold print :D**

**Enjoy!**


	13. From Bad to Worse

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD.**

**Chapter 12: From Bad to Worse**

I didn't sleep so well last night. I kept on thinking about Hiccup's Final Exam, Toothless and Stryka. To make things worse, when I finally fell asleep my worries worked into my dream and turned it into a nightmare.

I dreamed that the four of us were falling into a fiery inferno, the monster dragon right above us and ready to devour us!

I woke up in a cold sweat.

It was already morning. Dread filled my insides so I could barely eat. My parents were worried but I reassured them that I was okay. Just a bit excited for today's events, that's all.

"It's amazing how Hiccup has done so well. You've been training him, haven't you my love?" my mother smiled at me.

I paused in mid-bite and nodded slightly.

Technically, Hiccup was just using what we learned from training our dragons but I _guess_ you could say that I taught him a _little _bit.

"That's our girl. Always willing to impart some knowledge. Oh Zenna…Elias would be so proud of you right now…" dad said lovingly.

I smiled slightly, because I _already _knew that Eli was proud of me.

Then my parents stood up from the table. "Let's get going then. Wouldn't want to lose the good seats in the ring." Dad told me and Mom.

My smile faded.

This was it…

A half hour later, my parents and I were listening to Stoick's speech.

"Today, my son becomes a Viking! Today, he becomes one of us!" he boomed.

Everyone cheered loudly…except for me.

I leaned over to my parents and decided to ask, "Mom, Dad can I go see him? Just to, you know, wish him luck?"

Mom smiled and stroked my cheek. "Of course, sweetheart. Just be careful not to get lost in the crowd." She said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

I nodded and sprinted over to where Hiccup was waiting for the arena gates to open so he could go in. And not to my surprise, Astrid was with him.

"Odin Almighty, Hiccup I sure hope you have a plan…" I sighed worriedly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Zen. I do." Hiccup smiled before looking at me and Astrid.

"If anything goes wrong…Just make sure they don't find Toothless and Stryka." He said to us, slightly worried.

I smiled, took out one of my battle sticks and playfully poked him in the stomach. "As if we'd ever break _that _promise!" I giggled.

"Now just promise _us _that nothing _will _go wrong." Astrid said to him, softly smiling at him.

Hiccup grinned and put on his helmet.

Just in time too.

Gobber opened the arena gates saying proudly, "It's time, Hiccup. Knock 'em dead!"

"Good luck…" Astrid whispered, giving Hiccup's hand a squeeze. "We'll be right behind you…" I said, patting his shoulder.

Hiccup nodded, squared my shoulders and after taking a deep breath, headed into the ring.

Just as the gate began to close, I lodged a rock at the bottom to hold it up a little bit. "We have to be ready for the first sign of trouble." I told Astrid as I readied my sticks. Astrid nodded grimly.

We watched as Hiccup made his way over to the weapons rack, got his shield and chose a small dagger. I had to slightly smile. Leave it to Hiccup to choose the only piece of weaponry light enough for him to hold without any problems.

And then…the dragon was released.

The Monstrous Nightmare had, of course, coated itself in fire and was snarling viciously.

'_Oh Gods of Valhalla, please protect him…_' I prayed.

That's when Hiccup executed his plan.

And mind you, it was once again an insane one.

The Nightmare began to relax and was now looking eye-to-eye with Hiccup as he slowly backed away, dropping the dagger and shield. I could hear murmurs coming from the crowd.

"It's okay…It's okay…_I'm not one of them…_" Hiccup said calmly before to everyone's shock, took off his helmet and tossed it aside.

He then slowly brought his hand up and allowed the dragon to come closer.

"Stop the fight." Stoick said in shock and made a move to get out of his seat.

"No. I need you all to see this. They're not who we think they are…We don't have to fight them." Hiccup insisted.

'_Almost there…Just a little more and they'll understand…_' I thought hopefully as the dragon was just a few inches away from Hiccup's hand. Astrid tightly gripped the bars of the gate.

"I said _stop the fight!_" Stoick then yelled, slamming his hammer onto a rail.

_**BANG!**_

That's when all hell broke loose.

The loud noise was enough to anger the Monstrous Nightmare and it attacked! Hiccup screamed, narrowly dodging the flames as the Nightmare began chasing him around the ring!

"HICCUP!" Astrid and I both freaked and using an axe placed on the wall, pried the gate open and slipped into the ring to come to his rescue.

"Back! Back off!" I yelled, swinging my sticks in an attempt to swat the dragon away from my friend. I could hear my parents shouting at Gobber and Stoick to let them in there.

Then things took a turn for the worse.

The Monstrous Nightmare soon had me and Hiccup pinned under its massive paws. Not sure what to do anymore, Hiccup and I just looked at each other fearfully.

I could feel tears welling in my eyes. Hiccup and I were going to die…It was the end for the both of us.

Suddenly we heard two loud shrieks from above and then part of the arena's metal roof was blasted apart. To our shock and amazement, Toothless and Stryka burst out of the smoke and launched themselves onto the Monstrous Nightmare's back, growling and snapping viciously!

How on earth did they manage to get to the kill ring, Hiccup and I will never know.

They eventually forced the dragon off of us. As soon as Hiccup and I could stand, we sprinted to our dragons and clung to them protectively as Vikings poured into the arena and told them to get out of here.

But then Stoick charged, wielding his hammer along with my parents!

Thinking that they were going to hurt us, Toothless and Stryka threw any attacking Vikings off and lunged at Hiccup's dad and my parents and pinned them down!

"Toothless, stop!" Hiccup yelled frantically. "Don't do it, Stryka!" I screamed.

Then they prepared to fire! "_No…_"

"_**NOOOO!**_" Hiccup and I both screamed.

To our relief, they stopped and looked at us, confused. But before Hiccup and I could tell them again to go, they were captured!

"No don't hurt him! Just please don't hurt him…" Hiccup tried to run over to Toothless but Astrid held him back.

My dad scooped me up and began to walk out of the arena with my mom. I squirmed and thrashed like crazy, wanting to go to Stryka who was screeching like mad.

"No, you don't understand! Let me go! _Stryka! STRYKA!_" I screamed.

"Put them with the others!" I heard Stoick bellow. My last glimpse of Stryka was when she was put in the cages along with Toothless before the crowd swallowed me and my parents and then I couldn't see Stryka, Toothless and Hiccup anymore…

"Zenna, explain yourself!" Mom said, angrily looking at me.

We were outside the house where Mom and Dad were grilling me. I looked down at my boots, unable to meet their eyes.

"What did you call that Night Fury? Stryka? Does that mean the dragon was _yours?_" Dad forced me to look him in the eye.

I finally snapped.

"Yes! Yes! It's true! Hiccup and I _tamed and trained _those two Night Furies! They're our best friends!" I exclaimed.

My parents were shocked.

"Zenna don't you realize what you've _done?! _Befriending a dragon is absolutely absurd!" Dad said in horror.

"No, it's not!" I shouted back in defiance.

"It is _completely _absurd, love! Viking and Dragons don't mix. And befriending them? It's completely unbelievable!" my mother agreed with Dad.

Then they turned to leave and go back to the house, leaving me standing there like an idiot.

"_Elias would've believed me!_" I blurted out.

_That _got their attention.

"I've been lying to you both for a month and a half…What about you two? How long have you two been hiding from me how my brother _really _died?" I whispered.

"Zenna, we already told you…Your brother was killed by a dragon…" Dad told me softly. "I know _that._ But he was doing something _before _that. You two saw it, didn't you? Elias was trying to tame dragons, _wasn't he?_" I said coldly.

A moment of silence passed between us. I stared at my parents, my violet eyes showing a mixture of sadness, anger and pleading reflecting in theirs.

Finally my mother sighed. "Yes…he was…Your father and I saw it with our own eyes." She confessed.

I let that sink in before continuing.

"Elias and I always wondered if Dragons and Vikings could live together in peace…When Hiccup shot down Toothless, I went with him. And he didn't kill Toothless and Toothless didn't kill him either. Hiccup bonded with him, befriended him and trained him. I did the same thing with Stryka…The four of us are living proof of what Eli believed in." I told my parents before looking away.

"You can get mad at me, hate me or disown for all I care! But I stand by what Hiccup and Elias believe in and you can't make me change my mind." I declared. Then, my parents said the two most amazing things I had ever heard.

"We understand."

"We believe you."

"_Huh…?_" I whirled around to face them, my mouth agape.

"You…_do?_" I asked in surprise. Mom chuckled and hugged me. "You and your brother _were _always adventurous and curious…" she murmured.

"Aye, you two were…And you, Zenna, are _still _the adventurous, brave and curious young woman your brother, mother and I still love. Feisty and fierce, too." My dad winked at me.

I smiled. "Well I _am _a Fiersome." I said knowingly. Then I looked up at them. "They'll be readying the ships to go to the Dragon's Nest soon for sure…Are you two going?" I asked them.

"You've been to the Nest?" Mom and Dad asked me. I nodded.

"Toothless and Stryka took us there last night. Only dragons know their way around there. And Mom, Dad the dragons have been raiding Berk because of their _Queen._ If they don't give Her food, She eats _them._ I swear to you two that there's _no way_ you and the army can fight Her. She's as big as a mountain and can swallow a dragon, _whole._ Please don't go…" I told them the whole truth.

"Stoick will be enlisting us in the army for sure…I'm sorry, Zenna but we need to…" Dad said reluctantly. I sighed sadly before begging them, "Just _please _don't let them hurt Stryka or Toothless." Mom nodded. "We won't let a single weapon touch them." She promised.

I smiled a bit in gratitude before I remembered something Hiccup related.

Namely, Hiccup himself.

"I gotta go find Hiccup…" I told Mom and Dad who nodded at me understandingly.

I ran off to the arena as fast as I could. My friend wasn't there but Astrid and the other teens were there.

"Where's Hiccup?" I asked, all out of breath.

They were pretty surprised to see me but they were obliging enough to point at the Great Hall.

"Thanks!" I shouted before running off again.

I wonder what _they _thought of me _now_…Now that the whole village knew that I had sided with Hiccup and befriended a dragon like him, what did _everyone _consider me?

A traitor?

A coward?

A mad woman?

When the Great Hall was just a few steps away, I stopped.

'_Whatever they all think of me…I don't care about it anymore._' I thought to myself.

Right now, the only things I cared about were Hiccup and our Night Furies.

I walked to the doors, only to jump back as Stoick opened the doors with a huff. "Ready the ships!" he bellowed before spotting me and glared.

I felt my whole body tense up.

'_Oh, I am screwed…_' I thought fearfully.

But to my relief, Stoick just gave me one last glare and left. I gratefully exhaled the breath I had been holding and composed myself. At that moment, I saw Stoick's expression suddenly change from anger to…_regret?_

Just as I was pondering on that, I heard a familiar voice sobbing from inside the Great Hall…

"T-Toothless…"

My eyes widened and without a second to spare, I opened the doors. Hiccup was on the floor, his emerald green eyes filled with tears.

"Hiccup! Oh Gods, are you okay?!" I said worriedly.

'_Of course he's not okay, you idiot! He's crying!_' my mind pointed out but I ignored it and went over to Hiccup.

"What happened? What did Stoick do to you?" I asked him. Hiccup kept on sobbing.

I gently took hold of his shoulders.

"Out with it, Hiccup! What did he do to you?" I demanded.

Hiccup didn't look physically roughed up but I knew that he was emotionally hurt, the kind of hurt I hated seeing him experience.

Hiccup looked at me with his tear stained face set in pure agony but managed to get the words out.

"He…He disowned me.."

My blood ran cold.

Of all the things the Chief could say to his own son flesh and blood…this was the one thing I never thought he would ever say…

I couldn't say anything so I just hugged Hiccup and let him cry it out.

'_Oh, Hiccup…I'm sorry I wasn't there for you…I'm so sorry…_' I thought guiltily.

"H-He promised me after Mom was gone that he'd always be there for me…Dad…what happened to '_always_'…?" Hiccup sobbed.

Finally I got my voice back. "We'll figure out a way. Buddy system, remember?" I told him, gently wiping his tears away. Hiccup stopped crying and nodded.

That's when my anger began to show.

"You go on ahead…I have something I need to do." I said to Hiccup as we walked out of the Great Hall. He nodded and said quietly to me, "Meet me at the highest point overlooking the docks."

"Got it." I nodded and sprinted off.

It didn't take long for me to find the Chief talking to my parents in the village plaza. My rage bubbled up as I walked over to the man I had once greatly respected.

"You! I've got a few words for you, Stoick!" I spat out vehemently.

The plaza suddenly hushed up at my words and Stoick faced me. My parents were shocked at my impoliteness but I didn't give a damn about my manners at this moment.

"I'll see to your punishment when I get back, Fiersome." Stoick said gruffly. "Yeah, yeah punish me however you want! _Exile _me for all I care! But you better remember what I'm about to say…" I said darkly.

Then I took out one of my sticks and used it to knock Stoick's helmet right off his head! The crowd and my parents gasped while Stoick just stared at me in disbelief.

"You may be a great Chief, Stoick the Vast but _you are a __**horrible **__father!_" I yelled at him.

Stoick didn't even flinch, which made me even madder.

But I just huffed, gathered my sticks and stormed off, leaving the stunned silence of the villagers in my wake.

**Things are heating up!**

**By the way, what'd you guys think of Zenna's outburst on Stoick?**

**As Hiccup's best friend, Zenna does everything she can to protect him even if it means defying orders and trash talking Hiccup's father. Goes to show you that the two of them always have each other's backs!**

**See you all in the next update ;)**

**-GuardianDragon98**


	14. My Best Friend is Crazy

**Hey guys, new chapter! Only five more chapters after this and I'll finish the movie aspect of the fic before moving onto the short films ;)**

**Disclaimer: All rights to HTTYD go to DreamWorks Animation.**

**Chapter 13: My Best Friend is Crazy**

I wanted so badly to stop them.

But I knew I couldn't so I just watched with Hiccup…

Watched as they loaded Toothless and Stryka onto one of the ships.

They were muzzled, bound and chained up like animals and desperately struggling to break free. My heart broke seeing how miserable they were…

Pretty soon, the ships set sail and disappeared out into the horizon. Hiccup and I just kept looking out into the ocean when Astrid joined us. I was hoping she'd give us a few words of comfort but…eh, she didn't really help lift our spirits.

"It's a mess…You must feel horrible. You've lost everything." She said to Hiccup and went on.

"Your father, your tribe, your…" she stopped to look at me before continuing, "…your best _dragon _friend."

"Thank you for summing it up." Hiccup said sarcastically. "This isn't really making us feel better, Astrid." I pointed out, rolling my eyes.

"Why couldn't I have just killed that dragon when I found him in the woods…? It would've been better for everyone." Hiccup sighed. "Best for us and them…" I agreed with him, feeling tremendous guilt.

"Yep. The rest of us would've done it." Astrid agreed with us before looking at us.

"So, why didn't you? _Why didn't you?_" she asked us.

I looked at Hiccup. "Come to think of it…Why _didn't _you kill Toothless in the first place?" I decided to ask.

I never really questioned Hiccup about why he hadn't killed Toothless that seriously. He told me he didn't know why but I suspected that he _did _know why.

"What about you?" Astrid shifted her focus on me.

I thought about my answer really hard before slowly answering, "I was curious…And…I wanted to see what would happen next. When Hiccup refused to kill Toothless…I just suddenly remembered what my brother and I used to think of as kids…_If we can tame 'em, we can train 'em_…I wanted to see if…If it was possible…"

Hiccup looked at me and Astrid. "At least _you _have a reasonable reason…" he muttered.

"So really, dude…_Why didn't you?_" I asked Hiccup this time. "Why is this suddenly so important to the both of you?!" he snapped at me and Astrid.

"Because I wanna know what my best friend really thinks." I said calmly.

"Because I wanna remember what you say right now." Astrid chimed in.

"Oh for the love of…! I was a coward! I was weak! I couldn't kill a dragon!" Hiccup said frustrated.

"You said _couldn't _that time." Astrid pointed out. My friend looked like he had been cornered.

"I don't know! I couldn't kill him…Three hundred years and I'm the first Viking who _wouldn't _kill a dragon!" Hiccup said, frustrated and looked away from us.

"Well, yeah…First one to not kill one…" I said.

"First to _ride _one, though." Astrid said and that seemed to snap Hiccup out of it.

"So…?" Astrid asked him expectantly.

"I couldn't kill him because he looked just as frightened as I was…_I looked at him…and I saw myself._" Hiccup finally admitted to us both.

We looked out into the horizon.

"I bet he's really frightened now…So is Stryka…" Astrid told us.

"We need a plan-_fast._" I added grimly.

"So…what're you gonna do?" At Astrid's query, Hiccup shrugged and said, "Eh, I dunno. Probably something stupid."

"Good. But you've already done that." Astrid pointed out. "And it didn't work out too well." I added.

I watched Hiccup's face as he tried to figure something out.

Finally, he said, "Then something _crazy._" He replied before turning around and running back to the village.

"That's what I was waiting for." I grinned.

"That's more like it." Astrid smiled before glancing at me.

"Relax…I'm okay with you liking him." I said knowingly. Astrid blushed slightly. "I never said I liked him…" she mumbled. I just smirked.

"Let's get going. We wouldn't want him to be alone when he puts his plan into effect." I said before the two of us ran to catch up with Hiccup.

"Go get the other teens and meet me at the arena!" Hiccup instructed us, running on ahead. Astrid and I nodded.

While Hiccup went to the arena, us two girls went searching for the other teens. Luckily it didn't take too long to find them at one of the grazing fields, yak-tipping.

"Instead of tipping yaks, you guys wanna do something crazy?" I hollered to them.

Fishlegs was reading, Snotlout was just being arrogant as usual while Ruff and Tuff were the only ones doing the actual yak-tipping. At my proposal, they all turned their heads to face me.

"Did you say '_something crazy_'?" Ruffnut inquired eagerly.

"How _crazy _is this something gonna be?" Tuffnut looked pretty game as well.

"Let's just say it's a Hiccup idea. With an even chance of being a clever plan _and _a plan that could probably kill us." Astrid said smoothly.

"_We're in!_" the Twins cried excitedly and banged helmets.

"Well if it means annihilating stuff, count me in." Snotlout shrugged.

"If it requires some intellect, I'd be happy to join." Fishlegs pocketed his book.

Astrid and I smiled at each other.

"Okay, then it's settled." Astrid folded her arms and grinned. "Okey-dokey, guys follow us to the arena!" I said and led the march to the arena.

Hiccup was patiently waiting for us, standing in front of the dragon cages.

"If you plan on getting eaten, I'd definitely go with the Gronckle." Fishlegs stated.

Tuffnut then shoved him out of the way and said to Hiccup, "You were wise to seek help from the world's deadliest weapon." Before adding in a hushed tone, "It's me."

Next guy to shove his way into my friend's face was his cousin. "I _love _this plan." Snotlout exclaimed cheerfully.

I had to roll my eyes. We haven't even _told _them about the plan!

"You're crazy! _I like that._" Ruffnut said, whispering the last sentence flirtatiously before Astrid came forward.

"So, what _is _the plan?" she asked.

Hiccup seemed shocked on how we were all willing to follow him but smiled.

He leaned over to me and whispered, "Open the Monstrous Nightmare's cage. We're riding the dragons to Dragon Island."

I was stunned at first but realized that the plan made perfect sense.

If dragons were the only ones who could find their way to the Nest, then the only way _we _could get there was by _riding them._

Nodding, I headed for the Monstrous Nightmare's cage. "Whatever you guys do, no sudden movements and don't even _think _of raising a weapon or assuming a fighting stance." I warned the others as I slowly opened the cage.

Hiccup went in and a few minutes later…led the dragon out with his hand outstretched.

I calmly watched him and the other teens' reactions.

Yep, they were pretty impressed.

Then I saw Snotlout get nervous and picked up a spear head. Good thing Astrid caught him. "Uh-uh." She warned, shaking his head.

Snotlout's anxiety grew when Hiccup took him by the hand and guided it to the Monstrous Nightmare's snout.

"It's okay. Relax." My friend soothed him as he placed Snotlout's hand on the dragon's snout.

The Monstrous Nightmare purred calmly, making Snotlout laugh both in awe _and _relief.

Then Hiccup left him there.

"Where're you going?" Snotlout turned to look at him along with the others, giving me time to execute Step Two of the plan.

"You're gonna need something to help you hold on." Hiccup grabbed some rope and a shield.

Then the others turned around to see that I had already opened the other cages and let the Deadly Nadder, Hideous Zippleback and Gronckle out.

"Welcome to _real _Dragon Training." I grinned at their stunned faces.

"Whoa, hold on…You want us to _ride _them?" Tuffnut asked, shocked. "Wouldn't we you know…get killed?" Fishlegs added, nervously.

"I'm telling you guys, the dragons are just misunderstood. They raid our island to feed their Queen. And if they don't feed their Queen, _they _become their Queen's next meal." Hiccup told them.

"We're telling you the totally total truth. She is _ginormous_ and can swallow probably a dozen dragons whole. And I'm just talking about Her _head size_. We have to free them from Her." I said seriously.

"How's riding them gonna help us free them?" Snotlout asked, confused. "Only dragons know their way around the Nest's territory." Astrid answered.

"So _that's _why every search for the Nest failed?" Ruffnut asked this time.

"_Yes._" Hiccup, Astrid and I answered in unison.

We let the four of them think for a minute…

Then Tuffnut broke the silence, "I'm in!"

Ruffnut, "Me too!"

"Sign me up!" Fishlegs said cheerfully.

"Like I said, I _love _this plan!" Snotlout grinned.

We quickly got to work on helping them bond with their dragons.

Snotlout had already claimed the Monstrous Nightmare as his own and after a few false starts that involved his rear end smoking up a bunch of times, was on its back.

Fishlegs grew attached to the Gronckle and was happily cuddling it.

Hiccup had to remind the Twins that the Zippleback had _two _heads and they didn't have to fight over who got it. But then they argued on which head they sat on until Hiccup assigned Ruffnut on the gas head and Tuffnut on the spark head.

I, on the other hand, had to cautiously guide Astrid under the Nadder's nose to get to its tail. You see, Deadly Nadders also used their tails to show their moods. If they were aggressive, nervous or on high alert, the tail spines shot up. But if they're calm, they smoothen down. Gently, Astrid smoothed her Nadder's tail spines down.

Pretty soon, all of them were happily petting their dragons.

"Okay team, you ready?" Hiccup got on the Nadder with Astrid.

"YEAH!" the teens whooped.

I got on the Monstrous Nightmare with Snotlout.

"Remember guys, Dragon Training begins and ends with trust. If you trust the dragons, they'll trust you." I reminded them before Hiccup gave the go signal.

"Let's go!"

With those words, we lifted off and soared into the sky.

Astrid and the others were having a blast while Hiccup and I were silent. We both had the same thought on our minds…

And that was to save our dragons and our tribe.

**Alright now things get exciting!**


	15. Battling the Red Death

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD**

**Chapter 14: Battling the Red Death**

By the time we got to Dragon Island, the battle had already begun and we got to see just how huge the Queen was.

And by Odin's beard, she was one gigantic behemoth.

"Ruff, Tuff watch your backs! Move, Fishlegs!" Hiccup barked out orders as we narrowly avoided Her.

"Look at us, we're on a dragon! We're on dragons, all of us!" Tuffnut yelled to the stunned warriors watching us fly.

"Up! Let's move it!" Hiccup commanded us and we followed.

I looked down and saw Gobber say to Stoick while pointing at Hiccup, "Every bit the boar-headed, stubborn Viking you ever were."

To my surprise, Stoick nodded.

When we got to get a better look at the Queen, Hiccup turned to Fishlegs and said, "Fishlegs, break it down."

Good thing Fishlegs was a walking dragon statistics analyzer! He immediately gave us the description after just one look.

"Okay! Heavily armored skull and tail used for bashing and crushing-steer clear of both! Small eyes, large nostrils-relies on hearing and smell!" he said nervously.

"Well your description fits!" I remarked as the Queen crushed a ship to bits.

"Okay, 'Lout, Legs hang in its blind spot! Make some noise and keep it confused!" Hiccup ordered before turning to the Twins. "Ruff, Tuff find out if it has a shot limit! _Make it mad!_"

Well, _that _made the Twins happy.

"That's my specialty!" Ruffnut laughed. "Since when? Everyone knows _I'm _more irritating, see?" Tuffnut objected, flipping his Zippleback head upside-down and made a face at his sister.

"Oh for crying out loud, Snotlout get me close to Astrid!" I sighed. Snotlout quickly got his Monstrous Nightmare close to Astrid's Deadly Nadder and I jumped.

"Got room for one more?" I struggled to clamber onto the Sharp Class dragon.

Once Astrid helped me up Hiccup told the others, "Just do what I told you, we'll be back as soon as we can!" The others quickly left to face the Queen.

"Don't worry, we've got it covered!" Snotlout yelled.

For all of our sakes, I hope they do…

For now, I had to get to Stryka.

We scoped out the beach where most of the ships had either been docked or destroyed. As we flew over a couple of burning ones, two roars Hiccup and I knew very well were heard.

"_There!_" Hiccup shouted, pointing at the boat where our two Night Furies were chained up which was in flames!

"Let's get them out of there!" I cried and we flew down.

Hiccup and I jumped down onto the deck.

"Go help the others!" Hiccup told Astrid who nodded and immediately left to join the battle.

The both of us then rushed to our dragons.

"Okay, hold on!" Hiccup removed the muzzle from Toothless. "It's okay, girl I'm here. Don't be scared!" I said to Stryka comfortingly.

Grabbing steel rods, we tried to break the chains off the boards they were fastened onto.

"Hiccup, remind me to tell your father to _ban _the usage of these things!" I grunted as I vainly tried to break one of the locks.

Just then, the mast toppled over in a shower of sparks! The two of us yelped and jumped out of the way as it narrowly missed us. Then, to make things worse, the Queen's huge paw crashed into the ship sending us all underwater!

I panicked when I saw Toothless and Stryka sinking to the bottom. Hiccup and I already had them taken away from us once, we were not losing our dragons again!

Hiccup and I swam after them. Frantically we tugged and tugged at the chains, hoping to break them.

But we were running out of air…

Black spots appeared in my vision and I was starting to feel light-headed when two hands suddenly grabbed me and yanked me up to the surface. When my head came in contact with solid ground, I coughed out some water and sat up. I noticed that Hiccup was on land with me too, along with my parents and Stoick. They saved us from drowning!

"Mom? Dad?" I coughed out weakly.

"Dad…?" Hiccup was just as shocked as I was.

Then our surprise, the three of them jumped back into the water!

Seconds passed and the two of us were getting worried…

If they had managed to reach Stryka and Toothless, they should've come up by now…

Suddenly Toothless and Stryka burst out of the water, carrying our parents with them! Dropping the three of them off and shaking the water off of them, our two Night Furies barked at us and motioned to the battle.

"You got it, bud." "I read 'ya loud and clear, girl." Hiccup and I both nodded.

But I allowed myself to turn to Stoick as Hiccup ran over to Toothless.

"You know what? I don't understand you at all. First, you left Hiccup alone to fend for himself when he lost his mom. Second, you've basically looked down on him for all these years. And _disowning_ him was the tip of the iceberg. _Haven't you done enough?_" I asked him coldly and finally, Stoick flinched, like _really _flinched.

"Zenna, come on let's go!" Hiccup shouted at me. He was beside Toothless and Stryka, waiting for me.

"I'm giving you one last chance before we leave." I told Stoick before racing over to Hiccup, leaving him to make his decision.

Quickly we hopped on our dragons and strapped ourselves in…

"_Hiccup!_" Stoick suddenly grabbed Hiccup's hand.

I curiously watched out of the corner of my eye as my parents came to me.

"I…_I'm sorry. F-For everything._"

Those words were the ones I was hoping to hear.

"Yeah, me too…" Hiccup seemed a bit stunned at the sudden apology but he was okay with it.

Stoick and I looked at each other for just a quick moment. Enough time for me to smile and nod, indicating that I forgave him.

"You two don't have to go up there." Stoick told us.

"It's extremely dangerous…" my mother said worriedly.

"Are you sure the two of you can handle it?" my father chimed in.

Hiccup and I shared a glance and smiled. "_We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard._" We both replied.

Stoick clasped Hiccup's hand in his and said, "I'm proud to call you my son." I saw my best friend look at him in surprise but relief. "…_Thanks, Dad._" Hiccup whispered.

Now it was my parents' turn.

"We've said it before and we'll say it again…_Elias would be so proud of you._" My mother beamed at me. "As proud as _we_ are of you, Zenna." My father added. "I know, Mom and Dad. _I know._" I smiled knowingly.

Then nodding to each other, Hiccup and I lifted off!

'_It's now or never!_' I thought as we headed off to face the Queen.

"You _sure _you wanna get rid of this Red Death, Zen?" Hiccup asked me. I suddenly remembered what I had told him before I dropped out of Dragon Training…

"_I don't ever wanna kill another dragon ever again…"_

I looked at the dragon Hiccup now called the _Red Death_…

It was causing destruction everywhere, terrorizing the Vikings _and _Dragons.

"Trust me, Hiccup. This is _one _dragon I'm willing to kill." I said firmly. He nodded and we zoomed on ahead.

When we caught sight of our friends my first thought was, '_We were gone for just a short while and __this__ has already happened?!_'

In some way, Snotlout had ended up on the Red Death's _head_ while Fishlegs and his Gronckle were scrambling around on the ground, trying to avoid getting crushed by Her massive paws! Luckily Astrid got the Twins to get Snotlout out of there (_although Ruffnut and Tuffnut were arguing on who got on the job first_) and they did.

But that's when the Red Death opened Her huge mouth and tried to suck Astrid and her Nadder in! Hiccup and I guided Toothless and Stryka over to them.

"_Night Furies!_" A warrior cried out.

"_Get down!_" Gobber hollered as we streaked by the battlefield.

We fired two shots on the Red Death's head. Astrid got separated from her Nadder and they hurtled off in different directions.

"Let's help your comrade, Stryka!" I yelled.

Stryka zipped over to the Nadder and helped it right itself up before it crash landed. It squawked a '_Thank you_'.

"You're welcome!" I called out to it as I hurried with Stryka to see if Astrid was okay.

She was tumbling through the air and we weren't gonna be able to catch her! Good thing Hiccup and Toothless caught her by the foot.

"Did you get her?" Hiccup asked Toothless, hoping that he did.

Toothless looked upside-down to check and sure enough, Astrid was safe in his paws. He gave her a gummy grin while I flew alongside the three of them.

"He got her." I gave Hiccup a thumbs-up.

We got Astrid back on the ground and I heard her whisper, "_Go._" As we took off. I smiled, knowing that it was meant for Hiccup.

"That thing has wings…! Okay, let's see if it can use them!" Hiccup pointed out, noticing the tattered folds on the Red Death's back.

"Let's do this!" I shouted as the four of us charged.

Toothless paved the way by firing a plasma blast at the Red Death's back while Stryka fired a shot on the head. The Red Death roared at us in an outrage and opened Her wings.

"You think that did it?" Hiccup asked me.

I looked over my shoulder in time to see the tattered wings flap and lift the Red Death off the ground!

"Yep!" I squeaked nervously.

The Red Death began to fly, hell bent on killing us!

"Well he can fly!" Hiccup quipped. "Technically if it's a Queen it's a She!" I pointed out to him as the Red Death proceeded to chase us.

We passed by the crowd of warriors who were watching us. The other Viking teens were cheering for us as loudly as they could.

But we didn't have time to relish in the glory of battle, we had a monster to defeat!

Toothless and Stryka zigzagged through sea stacks that were too narrow for the Red Death to squeeze through and had to completely crush into piles of rubble.

"Hiccup, now would be a good time to camouflage ourselves!" I yelled to my friend, pointing up at the dark clouds in the sky.

Hiccup immediately caught my drift.

"Okay, Toothless…Time to disappear! Come on, bud!" he opened Toothless' tail fin to its fullest and they soared upward.

"Let's level the playing field, Stryka! _Up!_" I shouted.

With a screech, we flew up into the clouds with the Red Death following us.

She fired a blast of flame.

"Here it comes!"

But Hiccup and I were ready. Our dragons spun to dodge the flames and flew on into the clouds.

With Toothless and Stryka safely in the shroud of dark clouds, the Red Death didn't see them coming. They fired blast after blast, flying here, there and everywhere.

Finally She fired out an angry swirl of flames!

"Watch out!"

Too late.

Hiccup saw Toothless' tail fin catch fire!

"Now what?!" I yelled, frantic. Stryka and I were lucky to avoid getting scorched but we both knew our boys weren't going to last much longer up in the air!

"Okay, time's up…Let's see if this works!" Hiccup gulped nervously.

We flew into the Red Death's face.

"Come on! That the best you can do?!" Hiccup yelled at Her while Toothless roared. "Try and catch us, you overweight newt!" I taunted as well while Stryka fired a plasma blast at Her face.

The Red Death took the bait and began to fly after us as we did a power dive.

We _did _have a plan.

Remembering how the Terrible Terror's flame backfired inside of it when Toothless spat his fire into its mouth, Hiccup and I figured it would work on this monster.

But our timing had to be perfect…

As soon as we fired our combined fireballs into the Red Death's mouth the second She prepared to fire, Hiccup, Toothless, Stryka and I had to pull up and get out of the blast zone before She took us down with Her.

And Toothless' tail fin catching on fire put a slight kink in our plan. I saw the leather fin slowly disintegrating…

'_Please gods, just a little bit more!_' I bit my lip nervously. "Stay with me, buddy! We're good, just a little bit longer!" Hiccup encouraged Toothless as we continued our descent.

When the ground became visible, Hiccup and I looked at each other.

"Hold, Toothless." "Hold, Stryka."

And then…

"_**NOW!**_" Hiccup and I screamed.

Our two Night Furies jackknifed through the air and fired at the same time just as the first faint hiss of gas came from the Red Death's mouth. Both fireballs went in and the Red Death's fire began to ignite inside of Her…

Now all _we _had to do was get the hell out of here!

Shakily, we pulled up and began to fly over the Red Death's body as it crashed headfirst into the ground!

**KABOOM!**

And the dreaded Queen explodes like Ragnarok itself.

But to our bad luck, Hiccup, Toothless, Stryka and I _still _had to avoid getting caught in the blaze!

We frantically flew through the Red Death's burning body in a desperate attempt to escape the inferno chasing us. Then Toothless' tail fin got completely ejected and to my horror, the Red Death's clubbed tail was headed for us!

"No…" Hiccup mumbled.

He and Toothless were the ones closest to it…

"NO!"

Then the tail made contact with Toothless and Hiccup was thrown off his back!

"HICCUP!" I shrieked before the tail plowed into me and Stryka next!

My right eye suddenly felt like it was bursting…falling…flames all around me…Stryka's blurry form headed towards me…then everything went black…

**I dedicate this chapter to one of my reviewers, Bigby the Big Bad Wolf **

**I hope you find this chapter exciting!**


	16. Most of Him and Me

**Hey guys! Now, you all know that Hiccup lost a leg after the battle with the Red Death and is now the same as Toothless since **_**he **_**lost a left tail fin.**

**But what about Zenna? What did she lose? And…did Stryka perhaps lose something too?**

**Find out in this chapter of The Fiersome Chronicles!**

**Author's Note: I got inspiration for this chapter from Elfpen's 'Most of Him' story. This one's for you, Elfpen **

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD**

**Chapter 15: Most of Him and Me**

A warm breeze slowly brought me out from unconsciousness. I still had my eyes closed but I used my other senses to figure out my surroundings. I felt soft grass tickling my arms, heard the sweet chirping of birds, smelled fragrant flowers in full bloom and the air tasted of spring, summer and winter with no bite.

It was just wonderful…

'_I must have died in the explosion…I'm in Valhalla…_' I thought before I felt someone's hand tenderly brush against my cheek.

I slowly opened my eyes. My big brother's face beamed at me.

"Hey, Eli…" I smiled. "Good to see you awake, Zen." Elias laughed as he helped me sit up.

I looked around. We were in some sort of meadow that was surrounded by gleaming white walls and had a large golden gate not far from us.

"Am I dead?" I wondered out loud.

Elias smiled gently at me and shook his head. "Well you were close. Stryka saved you." He told me.

I instantly freaked out when I remembered my dragon and Hiccup and Toothless.

"Is _she _dead? Is Toothless okay? Did Hiccup survive?!" I asked worriedly while trying not to hyperventilate.

Elias quickly held onto my shoulders when my breathing started to accelerate and soothed me. "It's alright, Zenna. All of them are fine." He said comfortingly.

Then his expression turned somber.

"But, well…some things have changed." I cocked my head at him.

"_What _has changed?" I asked. Elias grinned and ruffled my hair, which I've really missed. "You'll find out when you get back." He said enigmatically.

Normally, I would've started pestering him to tell me but now I just said, "Oh, okay."

Suddenly the golden gate opened.

"Time for you to go. Want me to walk you there?" Elias took my hand and began to lead me to the gate.

"Wait…!" I tightly hugged my brother.

"Elias, there's so many things I want to tell you…All of my adventures with Hiccup and our dragons…How we got the whole tribe to finally see what you saw back then…But most of all…How much I've missed you and that _I love you._ I am so proud to be your little sister, Eli…" I whispered, tears trickling down my cheeks.

Elias embraced me, tears also streaming down his face. "No, Zen…_I'm _the one who should be proud and honored to have an amazing little sister like you and to have been friends with you and Hiccup. Both of you have accomplished more than I've ever hoped for. _Thank you…for carrying on the fight for me._" He sniffled.

After what seemed like forever, we pulled away from each other.

"Tell Mom and Dad that I love them and that I miss them." Elias grinned as I was about to step through the gate. "I will." I smiled, turning around to see my brother one last time.

"And Zenna…keep a sharp eye. _Literally._" My big brother pointed to his left eye and smiled. I was puzzled.

"Huh?"

At that, Elias just laughed, "You'll see what I mean when you get back out there, sis. _I love you._"

I decided to forget about his cryptic message for now and smiled back. "_I love you too._" I said before I stepped through the golden gate.

I woke up in my bed feeling slightly weak, dizzy and _starving._

My parents were fixing food on the table when I croaked out, "Hey…"

Boy, did they jump!

I must've been out for a while because Mom immediately started showering me with kisses while Dad nearly crushed my ribs with one of his bear hugs.

"Oh thank the gods…Thank the gods…" my mother wept for joy.

"How long was I asleep for?" I questioned. "A whole, solid _month_. It was touch and go for a while. We almost lost you." My dad told me, relieved to see me awake.

I was stunned when I learned that I had been comatose for a whole month. But I forgot about all that when a familiar black dragoness swung down from one of the beams of the ceiling.

"_Stryka!_" I was so happy that my dragon was alive, I didn't notice something was different about her until she started licking my face.

That's when I saw it.

The deep, pitted scar where her right eye had been!

"Oh my gods, your eye! _Stryka, what happened to your right eye?!_" I screamed in horror. Stryka just crooned and nuzzled me.

"She was wounded when we found you safely wrapped in her wings. We couldn't save her right eye and…" my mother managed to say before she trailed off and my father pointed to his right eye.

My hand immediately reached up to touch the right side of my face…and I felt the soft cotton gauze on the spot where my right eye used to be.

"You…also had to have an eye taken out. If we didn't do it, the infection could've killed you. Good thing you were completely out so Stryka didn't panic when the operation was done. She passed out as soon as your operation was done so we could work on her too." Dad chuckled nervously.

Mom helped me undo the bandages and the gauze so she could change it. I was able to get a good look at my face in the mirror hanging on one of our walls. Apart from a few minor burns that were now close to fully healing, nothing looked bad…save for the month-old scar where my right eye had been taken out but even _that_ didn't look horrible.

It had healed up rather nicely, in fact. I figured that I'd still look the same even if I had to wear an eye patch from now on.

"So that's what he meant…" I murmured, remembering my brother's words.

"Who?" Mom and Dad asked me.

"Elias. Mom, Dad I saw Elias. He told me that he was so proud of me and Hiccup…He also said that he loves and misses you two…Keep a sharp eye-literally…So that's what Eli meant…" I said softly.

My parents were amazed but also very happy to hear that.

Stryka then gently pushed her snout into my tummy, her left eye looking mournfully at me.

'_I'm sorry…_' she seemed to say to me as she whined.

"An eye for an eye…Looks like the expression came true…" I laughed before petting Stryka and told her that it was okay.

Then my stomach growled.

"Um…What's for breakfast?" I asked sheepishly. "Lunch actually, love. And I've been making your favorite for the whole month in case you woke up." Mom laughed before Dad handed me a bowl of lamb and fish stew. I licked my lips and finished the whole bowl in just a few minutes.

Then I asked Mom and Dad what had happened ever since the battle. What they had to tell me was rather lengthy and my still tired mind couldn't process it all but I managed to remember the key points in their story.

Everyone made it out of Dragon Island alive, the dragons had now been accepted into the village and thankfully, no feuds or big mishaps aside from broken roofs and scorched doors had occurred.

But when they told me that Hiccup had to lose his left leg _and _was still out cold…I didn't really know what to say.

"Well _that's _pretty messed up. I had a head injury so _I _should be the one still in a coma…" I said sadly.

Then the door opened and Stoick came inside our house. He looked rather surprised to see me up and went over to my bedside while my parents left to let us have some alone time and Stryka climbed up onto the rafters of the house to take a nap.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake…" Stoick said awkwardly.

"Thank you, sir…" I said politely.

Stoick then took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"I'm sorry for what I said before, sir. I wasn't really in control of myself." I decided to apologize. "You had every right to be mad. And you were right about everything. I'm sorry." Stoick sighed.

"I forgive you." I smiled. He chuckled and lightly ruffled my hair. "I'm looking forward to seeing you up and about again, Fiersome. I'm sure the dragons and everyone else will be happy to see you."

With those words, the Chief left and my parents came back. "Can I go outside tomorrow?" I asked them.

They looked at each other for a few seconds before looking back at me again.

"As long as you don't stay out too late and bundle up. Winter's already arrived." My dad told me.

Indeed when I peered out the window, snow blanketed the whole village.

"I suppose the fresh air would do both you and your dragon good. Stryka hasn't set foot outside of the house ever since we came back to Berk. And tomorrow, wear _this._" My mom handed me a beautiful black leather eye patch.

"Did Gobber make it?" I asked, admiring the leatherwork. My parents nodded and added that he was even making new saddles for Toothless and Stryka.

Now I was beginning to really look forward to tomorrow.

I fell asleep with two things on my mind: How the isle of Berk has changed and most of all, how Hiccup was doing…

The next morning, I carefully got out of bed. My legs and joints felt a bit stiff but after hobbling about with Stryka for support for a few minutes, I was fine. Good thing my eyesight was still good even if I lost one eye.

After breakfast, I bundled up in my fur coat and a new woolen scarf Mom knitted for me while I was asleep. Then together, Stryka and I went outside.

Let me tell you, I never thought I'd be so happy to feel Berk's legendary freezing cold temperature.

"Okay…what should we do first?" I said to myself, watching my breath puff out in little misty clouds.

Stryka then decided to roll around in the snow until she looked like a giant snow dragon. She warbled at me to join her. I had to smile. Stryka loved winter already.

"Come on, Stryka. Let's go see Hiccup and Toothless." I laughed.

At the mention of her mate, Stryka shook the snow off herself and followed me. Not many people were out today. Probably because they all want to stay in their warm and cozy beds.

As I headed up to Hiccup's house, I looked around.

Everything was quiet and peaceful, which used to be so rare before.

Then I reached Hiccup's house and knocked. Stoick opened it and smiled sadly, "Come in…" he opened the door a little wider for Stryka to fit.

First thing we saw was Toothless finishing his breakfast. Stryka yapped excitedly and bounded over to him and they nuzzled and cuddled like they hadn't seen each other in years.

"They're a lovely couple, aren't they?" Stoick chuckled.

I grinned and gave Toothless a big hug, "Hey there, big guy. Missed me?"

A wet, slimy tongue gave me my answer.

Laughing, I shook off Toothless' spit before noticing Hiccup in bed near the fireplace. My smile vanished and I quietly went to his bedside. He was pale as a sheet but was sleeping peacefully, much to my relief.

"May I?" I asked, holding onto the edge of his blanket. Stoick nodded and I gently pulled back the covers.

"…_Oh…_"

Hiccup's left leg now ended in a stump a few inches below the knee now…

"You should've seen him screaming and thrashing about when it had to be done. We could've used your presence there…To calm him down." Stoick said, his eyes filled with sadness.

I nodded understandingly and put the blanket over Hiccup's leg again.

"Will he ever be able to…you know…" I mumbled. "Gobber will be here in an hour to make measurements for his prosthetic." Stoick told me.

"I'll stay here and help." I offered. The Chief smiled. "I would really appreciate it." He answered.

So I took a chair near Hiccup's bed while his dad left to do some chiefing.

For a long while, I just played with Toothless and Stryka in the corner, daydreamed and kept watch over Hiccup.

At one point, I gently took hold of my best friend's limp hand. "I hope you wake up soon, Hicc…It's too lonely and too quiet here without you…" I sighed.

Suddenly the door opened and I jumped to my feet.

"Well, good to see you up, lass!"

It was Gobber.

He playfully brushed a finger over my eye patch. "Not too itchy on you, is it?" he inquired. I shook my head. "It fits great, Gobber. One of your finest leatherworks yet."

Gobber laughed. "Och'…Wait till you see them saddles I'm working on for Toothless and Stryka. _Then _you can tell me I've made the finest!"

I then began to help Gobber by helping him with the measuring tape so he could make the correct measurements.

"Are you going to make him a peg leg?" I asked. "Nah! For Hiccup, his leg's got to have a little bit of 'im thrown in there. I'll be modifying the left stirrup on Toothless' saddle so it can just snap right into place. We also found all of those drawings you two made. Can't believe that you two have been keeping these two lovebirds a secret for a month and a half until we found out!" Gobber finished his last sentence with a wave to Toothless and Stryka who were licking each other.

"Well…I won't be able to get that mental image out of my brain anytime soon." I joked and Gobber laughed.

An hour and a half later, Stoick returned just as Gobber and I finished drawing up plans for Hiccup's prosthetic. Thanking Stoick, Stryka and I left.

When we were just walking around the plaza, everyone greeted me with big smiles, pats on the back and hugs. Stryka purred like a cat whenever a kid would rush up to her to pat her and run back shouting, "I touched a Night Fury!"

"That's our food storage, Stryka…Over there, the docks…the dressmaker's shop…the market…" I pointed out to Stryka all the houses and shops in the village and even introduced her to some of the villagers.

At this time, everyone was out and about with their dragons. Gronckles, Deadly Nadders, Hideous Zipplebacks, Monstrous Nightmares and Terrible Terrors were _everywhere_.

And everyone was getting along and working together…wow, just…_wow._

**Next few chapters are also inspired by Elfpen's story. Thank you for inspiring me Elfpen **


	17. Waiting While the World's Changing

**Once again, I got this from Elfpen's Most of Him story. Thanks for inspiring me Elfpen **

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD**

**Chapter 16: Waiting While the World's Changing**

A little while after lunch, I met up with the other Viking teens in the Great Hall.

Ruff and Tuff were practically _worshipping _me for my scar.

"That scar is so cool…" Tuffnut breathed in awe when I took off my eye patch. "I like the eye patch." Ruffnut complimented.

Fishlegs was busy…_teaching __**Snotlout **__how to __read__?_

"Loki Almighty…are you, Snotlout Jorgenson, _reading a book?_" I grinned playfully when I noticed the Book of Dragons in Hiccup's cousin's hands.

"Mm-hmmm…I'm halfway through and so far, I think _everything _needs updating." He waved off my tease and resumed reading.

"I was surprised when he approached me for lessons. Not a _single _complaint so far!" Fishlegs whispered to me. "Yeah…You know, I've been meaning to ask the Chief for permission to update it. Especially the Night Fury pages. Once Hiccup wakes up, we'll get started on it." I told them.

"But for now, I suppose you'll want to remove all the '_Extremely Dangerous. Kill on Sight._' Labels, am I correct?" Astrid questioned.

I nodded and pretty soon, we were _all _talking. They told me stories of what had happened ever since the battle with the Red Death, what I've missed and later, my friends took me out to the stables so I could meet their dragons.

Snotlout named his Monstrous Nightmare _Hookfang_.

Fishlegs named his Gronckle _Meatlug_.

The Twins named their Hideous Zippleback _Barf_ (Gas head) and _Belch_ (Spark head)

Astrid named her Deadly Nadder _Stormfly_.

Along with Stryka and Toothless (_who had joined us shortly after_), the dragons got along pretty well with their Riders. And, need I say it, was impressed. We spent the whole day playing in the snow and when it was time for me and Stryka to go home, I had the biggest smile on my face.

But when I went to bed that night, I remembered Hiccup…

'_If only he was awake…_' I thought as I drifted off to sleep.

Weeks passed by and I had already established a routine with Stryka. Here it is down below.

Wake up and have breakfast

Go to Hiccup's house and check on him

Morning Flight and exercise with Toothless

Help in the forge

Lunch

Check on Hiccup again

Spend the afternoon with friends

Check on Hiccup _again _before going home

Dinner and go to bed

Sneak out of bed for an Evening Flight (*_Stryka firmly wants this to be done once a week_*)

I stuck to this schedule for about a month without any drastic changes. But as the days passed by and Hiccup _still _hadn't woken up…it soon became boring and monotonous.

I also noticed that Stoick was really depressed now…

I'd try to cheer him up by saying that at least we all know that Hiccup was on the mend but…it didn't really work.

I was wondering what I could do to solve this problem in front of my house when Astrid came.

"Can you help me round up the others?" At her question, I looked at her quizzically. "Did some dragons misbehave again? Or did _the Twins _blow something up again?" I asked warily.

"Neither. I'll explain when we're all together." Astrid replied. I shrugged and went to go get the other teens.

When we got together, Astrid told us about her plan to throw a party in honor of Hiccup.

"Wait, you want us to throw a party for a _dead guy?_" Tuffnut asked dumbly, making me facepalm myself.

"Hiccup's _not _dead." Astrid reminded him. She and I had already explained to him, Ruffnut and Snotlout the difference between dead and comatose a dozen of times before and they _still _couldn't understand!

"It's not really going to be much of a party for him if he's not _there._" Ruffnut pointed out. "It _does _seem pretty unorthodox to throw a part for someone when they're comatose." Fishlegs agreed with her.

"This is for Stoick too, guys." Astrid told us.

"Uncle Stoick? Why, did he lose a leg too?" Snotlout asked, confused. "No. But think about it, guys…His son's in a coma, he's depressed and I think that he's starting to forget that what Hiccup did was _worth _something. We need to remind the Chief and the whole village about that." Astrid explained.

I was impressed.

Astrid had really stepped up this time!

"Astrid, that's a wonderful idea. I think it's about time we all celebrate the end of the war together. Hiccup would want us to do that." I said brightly.

The others were quiet for a few minutes…

"Will there be food?" Tuffnut asked.

"Since Hiccup's not coming, can I have his mead?" Snotlout added.

"Where's the party going to be held?" Ruffnut questioned.

"Can we invite our dragons too?" Fishlegs chimed in hopefully.

Astrid and I looked at each other and smiled.

"Yes, I suppose, Great Hall and _yes._" I answered all of their questions.

Well then, everyone was onboard and we began to make plans. After agreeing on everything, we got some of the adults to help us.

Of course, we didn't tell Stoick about all this because we wanted to surprise him.

Gobber helped us decorate the Great Hall, Phlegma baked bread and Hoark prepared the best cuts of meat.

Astrid and I personally made sure everything was perfect. The preparation lasted for a few days since we wanted everything to be perfect. And as it was customary in feasts to honor a hero, we decided to tell Hiccup's story in his place. The teens provided the part where Hiccup began to excel in Dragon Training and helped them bond with their dragons while I provided the part where Hiccup and I met Toothless and Stryka and all the things we did together when we were still keeping our dragons a secret.

We rehearsed it with all of our dragons every day until the day before the celebration came, wanting it to be perfect. After our last rehearsal that evening, we wished each other good luck and went home. Stryka and I were headed home when Astrid suddenly rushed over to us.

"Zenna, can I…talk to you in private?" she asked hesitatingly. "Sure. You go on ahead, Stryka. I'll catch up." I said and nodded to Stryka. She warbled and lumbered back to the house.

"So what do you wanna talk about?" I asked. Astrid wrung her hands nervously and asked, "Can we talk at the Cove." I raised an eyebrow at her request but shrugged.

We went over to my and Hiccup's special haven and sat by the pond.

"Tomorrow's the day we celebrate him…" Astrid murmured. "Mm-hmm…It's just too bad he can't join us in the festivities. I swear that if he doesn't wake up soon, I'm personally going to _make _him wake up with a barrel of ice-cold water." I said the last sentence half-jokingly and half-sadly.

Astrid grinned at my joke. But her smile faded as she looked up at the night sky. I waited for her to say something, fiddling with my lucky silver pendant.

Finally she asked me, "Do you love Hiccup, Zen?"

I looked at Astrid for a few seconds, slightly stunned.

But then again, I should've seen this coming.

After a moment or two I replied, "Of course I do, Astrid. But…I love him like a _brother._ Hiccup's my best friend and that's that."

Astrid's eyes widened. "You mean…you don't like him the _other _way?" she asked in surprise. I rolled my eye at her. "I've known Hiccup for seven years, Astrid. I know _everything _about him. Including the fact that he only has eyes for _you._" I pointed out to her.

"Me? _Really?_" Astrid was still rather surprised. "Are you kidding me? Hiccup's practically a hundred times klutzier whenever you're around. _He's head-over-heels in love with you!_" I said in an almost exasperated tone.

But I was rather amused seeing the tough-as-nails Astrid Hofferson blush at the mere thought of Hiccup having a crush on her.

_That's _something a shield maiden rarely does.

Then she regained her composure.

"You think he'll…still like me when he wakes up?" she asked timidly. "Something tells me that he will, Astrid. After all, Hicc's been in love with you ever since, like, forever and I doubt he'll stop loving you when he wakes up." I replied, grinning.

"Oh man! You even came up with a nickname for him? _I _haven't got one!" Astrid whined, embarrassed. "Well, make your own!" I laughed.

Pretty soon, both of us were laughing.

It's rather amazing when your best friend has done something really big…_Especially _when your best friend's longtime crush who used to barely notice him _actually _started liking him back.

When we got back to the village, Astrid gave me a smile. "Thanks for letting me talk to you, Zenna." She thanked me. "Anytime." I smiled.

Before she left, Astrid told me one more thing, "You're a good friend, Zenna. Never forget that."

'_I won't._' I smiled and went back to my house.

Gobber had stopped by according to my parents earlier to give Stryka her own eye patch and she was loving it.

"Good night, Stryka." I yawned as I took of my eye patch and hung it on one side of my bed while I let Stryka keep hers on. Stryka purred, curled up and went to sleep.

'_Odin, may tomorrow's celebration got well…_' I prayed before I fell asleep.


	18. Halfway Out of the Dark

**Hey guys, GuardianDragon98 here **

**The movie part of this story is coming to an end soon and then I'll be moving to the short films.**

**I AM going to make another fic, this time for Riders and Defenders of Berk but it could take a while since school's going to start at my place on probably June 2 so I have to get ready for my last year in High School. (Yes I am graduating soon and headed off to college next year!)**

**But don't worry, I'm still gonna keep writing ;)**

**NOTE: I do NOT own HTTYD. All rights go to DreamWorks Animation**

**Chapter 17: Halfway Out of the Dark**

I woke up feeling nervous but excited at the same time. Making sure I looked presentable enough, I woke Stryka up then had breakfast with my family and we headed to the Great Hall.

The teens had already rounded up the rest of the villagers.

Everyone (_except for the adults we told the party about_) was surprised, Stoick most of all. After talking pleasantries with everyone and welcoming the dragons, the feasting began. Food and drink were abundant. After the teens and I had eaten our fill, we looked at each other and nodded. I stood up on our table and cleared my throat.

"Attention! Attention everyone!" I called out loudly.

My stomach twisted into knots when everyone looked at me.

"Um…Well first of all, I want to thank you all for joining us in this celebration." I said, gesturing to me, my friends and our dragons.

Everyone applauded.

I resumed talking. "While our hero is, um…absent…I'm sure he would want all of us to celebrate the end of the war between Vikings and Dragons together as a tribe. I'm…pretty sure you're all wondering how in Odin's name did Hiccup and I meet our Night Furies, Toothless and Stryka _and _at the same time, discovered that everything we knew about the dragons was wrong, am I right?" I said carefully.

Murmurs of agreement were heard throughout the hall.

"Well wonder no more. Because we're about to tell you." I smiled and began to tell the tale.

Starting from the very moment Hiccup shot Toothless out of the sky, meeting him and Stryka in the woods at Raven Point, discovering the Cove where the four of us bonded, making the prosthetic tail fin for Toothless, everything we learned while we were with them and our first time flying together…

I poured my heart out as I narrated my side of the story and the villagers listened to me intently. When I paused to catch my breath, it was Astrid and the gang's turn. They told them of how Hiccup and I suddenly got better in class shortly after the raid, how Astrid discovered our secret and the Dragon's Nest and how we all worked together to battle the Red Death. We spared no details and we all finished the story together with our dragons.

"…and that about sums it up." I finished and sat back down.

For a moment, everyone was silent…

Then my parents clapped, followed by Stoick, Gobber and pretty soon, everyone was applauding us.

Astrid and I saw that Stoick had tears in his eyes as he silently mouthed to us, '_Thank you._'

We both smiled as the festivities continued.

Hiccup's reserved seat was empty at first but now, Toothless was trying to stuff himself into it to eat Stoick's leftovers which I found really funny. Stryka, on the other hand, was letting the children pet her and even played with them.

One baby girl was happily playing with Stryka's tail and my dragon was smiling toothlessly at her as she played. "Cute dwagon! Fwendwy dwagon!" the baby girl gurgled happily.

Even the other dragons were playing with the kids and some adults as well.

"I think this feast has been a success, don't you think guys?" I grinned.

"Yeah!" "You bet!" "Best party ever!" the teens agreed with me as we exchanged high-fives.

In short, today was one of the best days of our lives.

The next day, I woke up to find the snow melting and new grass springing up.

Spring was on its way.

Excited, I ran out of the house to see if there were any new buds growing in my garden. Stryka was already awake and was now sniffing at some budding daffodils.

"Spring is on its way, Stryka." I smiled as I stroked her head. Stryka purred and continued smelling the flowers.

"Let's pick some flowers and give them to Hiccup." I suggested.

Stryka nodded eagerly…then promptly trotted over to a bush with little pink flowers near our house (_one of my Mom's prized plants!_) and uprooted it.

I merely blinked and stared at the gaping hole in the earth.

"How am I going to replace that…?" I muttered, shaking my head.

Seeing that there was nothing that could be done (_Looks like I'll be facing my mother's wrath when I get home later_), Stryka and I headed over to Hiccup's.

But when I was about to open the door, Snotlout suddenly burst out of it and the door smacked me in the face!

"Damn you, Snotlout! What was that for?!" I yelled angrily only to find that he was long gone. I could make out his retreating form as he ran off to Thor knows where.

I was thinking of giving chase to him so I could administer an appropriate punishment but my anger died out when I heard his shouts.

"Hiccup's waking up! _He's waking up!_"

My eye widened and Stryka dropped the bush she was carrying in her mouth and the two of us quickly went inside Hiccup's house.

To my amazement Hiccup was _moving _around his bed, whimpering quietly.

"Hiccup…?" I whispered tentatively as I approached his bedside. He turned his head towards me but his eyes remained closed.

"Zenna…? Leg…hurts…" he whimpered.

My eye filled with tears of joy.

"Don't worry Hiccup…It'll go away…" I whispered, comfortingly stroking his cheek. He soon stopped stirring and fell asleep.

Stryka saw that I was crying and softly crooned. "I'm okay, girl…Just a bit choked up…Oh gods, he's finally coming back around…" I murmured, giving Hiccup's hand a squeeze.

After a few minutes, I left with Stryka to go on a morning flight to clear our heads. But one thing stayed on my mind and filled me with joy.

My best friend was coming round. We were halfway out of the dark…

For the rest of the month, Spring slowly crept into the island of Berk.

And at the same time, Hiccup began to slowly wake up from his three month sleep. He was still weak and confused but Gothi had checked him and deemed him healthy enough. While his stump had healed up pretty nicely, the only thing we had to worry about Hiccup was his memory. He could wake up anytime, talk to his dad or anyone else, fall back asleep and then wake up later and not remember a thing. It was kind of worrying but over time, the problem was sorted out and he could remember bits and pieces of the battle and everything else.

When Hiccup saw that Stryka and I had both lost an eye, he didn't really know what to say…

"_I'm sorry…_" he mumbled guiltily. "You don't have to be sorry for anything." I said simply and gave him a hug.

"I promised I'd always have your back, remember?" I said coyly. Hiccup eventually smiled back before falling back asleep.

I smiled again. "_I'll always have your back, Hicc. Always._" I whispered in his ear before I left his house.

And during these happy times, all the Vikings and Dragons in Berk were now friends. Things were finally getting better for all of us.


	19. We Have Dragons

**The last chapter of the movie is here **

**Thank you for all the favs, follows and reviews everyone. You have made this amateur writer feel so welcome in this fanfiction community **

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD**

**Chapter 18: We Have Dragons**

The day Hiccup woke up for real was the best day in the whole island. Stryka and I were just busy helping some of the workers build a dragon house when I heard somebody yell, "Hey, look! It's Hiccup!"

I turned my head toward the direction of the Chief's house along with Stryka.

The widest grin appeared on my face when I saw my best friend and his father outside along with a bunch of other Vikings. I bounded up the hill with Stryka to greet my friend.

"Turns out, all we needed was a little more of _this._" Stoick said, gesturing to Hiccup.

_All of him_, mind you.

"You just gestured to all of me…" Hiccup said, still surprised of all the changes in the village. "Why wouldn't he? _You're _the hero, after all." I pointed out, sauntering over to give him a hug.

He noticed my eye patch and seemed mildly surprised but smiled at me.

"Buddy system, remember?" I asked coyly and we slammed hands.

Then Gobber came over saying, "Well, most of you. That bit's my handiwork. With a little Hiccup flair thrown in! You think it'll do?" Hiccup glanced down at his new prosthetic. "I might make a few tweaks." He shrugged, making everyone chuckle.

That's when Astrid decided to make an appearance, giving Hiccup a punch to his arm. "That's for scaring me." She said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Wh-What? Is it always going to be like this way? Because…" Just as Hiccup was about to finish his ranting, Astrid grabbed him by the front of his tunic and kissed him-_on the lips._

'_Finally!_' I thought triumphantly while the rest of the villagers '_oohhed_' and '_aahhed_' and squealed. Stryka just rolled her one green eye at this public display of human affection.

Oh, the look on Hiccup's face when Astrid pulled away from him-haha!

"…I could get used to it." He concluded, smiling like a dope.

Gobber then gave him a bundle that consisted of the new saddle and tail fin. "Welcome home." He smiled at his apprentice. Hiccup grinned.

Then the shouts of, "_Night Fury! Get down!_" caught our attention.

Toothless bounded out of Hiccup's door and jumped on Spitelout's and a bunch of others' heads to get to us, looking as excited as he can be and Stryka nuzzled him affectionately. Astrid, Hiccup and I looked at each other and laughed.

I watched as Hiccup confidently latched his metal leg onto the saddle's modified left stirrup, opening Toothless' bright red tail fin.

"You ready?" he asked Toothless. The Night Fury chuffed happily in return.

Astrid was riding her Deadly Nadder and I was on Stryka.

"We're ready as we can be, Hiccup! _Lead the way!_" I smiled.

'_This…is Berk. It snows nine months of the year and hails the other three...'_

The three of us took off into the air and began to race around the island, startling a Viking having a drink as we flew past him.

'_Any food that grows here is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here are even more so…'_

We flew over to the docks, zigzagging among the docked ships.

"_Yeah!_" Hiccup whooped, pumping his fist in the air.

"_Ya-hoo!_" I yelled in delight.

'_The only upsides are the pets…_'

Pretty soon, Fishlegs and his Gronckle joined us, followed by the Twins and their Hideous Zippleback and Snotlout with his Monstrous Nightmare.

'_While other places have…ponies or parrots…_'

I smiled widely.

A new era of peace has come to Berk.

And with it, new adventures that the seven of us were ready for.

Hiccup and I looked at each other, smiled and together with Toothless and Stryka shot up and flew higher into the clouds, where the sun and our future was shining brightly.

'_We have…Dragons._'

**END**

**Epilogue is in the next chapter ;)**


	20. Epilogue

**Note: I do NOT own HTTYD**

**Epilogue**

Well, there you have it. That is the story of how the 300 year war between the Dragons and Vikings of Berk ended. All thanks to a young Viking boy who wasn't really the Viking everyone wanted to be but, despite the overwhelming odds, found a way to change our world.

Of course he wasn't alone, he had me as well.

But like I said before from the very start, my best friend Hiccup is and always will be the real Hero. Along with Toothless, it's thanks to him that Dragons and Vikings are at peace…

How I wish I could tell you more of the adventures Stryka and I had with them, dear reader…But alas, all of those other adventures…

Well…That's another story to be told another day.

** -Zenna Fiersome**

**Legend of the BoneKnapper Dragon will be posted on Monday. Book of Dragons may be posted next week. Anyways, thanks for supporting this.**

**Don't worry, the story's not over yet ;)**


	21. Legend of the BoneKnapper Dragon

**Hi, GuardianDragon98 here **

**Now that the movie part of the story is over, let's move onto the short film!**

**Book of Dragons will come next week. Sorry guys, it takes time to research on the correct lines XD**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

**Legend of the BoneKnapper Dragon**

I was just having a relaxing nightcap of warm yak milk and sweetbread with Stryka and her basket of cod when I heard Hoark shout, "FIRE!"

Abandoning our late night snacks, Stryka and I bolted out of the house with Mom and Dad only to see that Gobber's house had caught on fire!

"Get the buckets! To the ocean! What happened?!"

Vikings scrambled back and forth with buckets of water. My parents joined in the fire brigade on foot while Stryka and I flew to the ocean to fill our buckets with water and let it rain down from above.

Stoick was standing close by, overseeing the whole operation. "The wind is shifting!" he shouted.

Astrid came by, tossing her water in. "Fire Brigade, move in! Bring in Nadders from the south!" Stoick barked out. "I'm on it!" Astrid shouted, flying off to get reinforcements.

"Gronckles, aim for the roof!" Stocik commanded as Fishlegs and Meatlug flew in, Fishlegs triumphantly shouting, "Yeah!"

Hiccup and Toothless assisted me in putting out one part of the roof.

"Any idea how _this _happened?" I raised an eyebrow at my best friend.

I had two guesses: either Gobber went a little overboard forging in his home or the Thorston Twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, got their Zippleback, Barf and Belch to blow Gobber's house up.

Hiccup shrugged at my question. He had no idea either. We flew down to join Stoick.

"Good! Just a few hotspots left." Our Chief told us.

"Where's Gobber? Is he still inside?" Hiccup asked worriedly as we landed. "How did this fire start anyway?" I wondered out loud. "No, we can't find him. And we don't know how." Stoick shook his head.

Then a voice we feared we might never hear again said, "_I'm right here!_"

We turned to the direction the voice came from and saw, much to our relief, Gobber pushing a cart towards us.

"That beast will pay for this!" he said, looking rather steamed.

Hiccup and I both sighed in relief. At least he was alive…

"Gobber, what happened?" Stoick questioned the blacksmith. "What's it look like? A dragon set my home on fire!" Gobber exclaimed, making all of us look at each other in confusion.

"What?" Ruffnut asked loudly as she was naturally a loud-spoken person.

Gobber, on the other hand, was too busy angrily ranting about. "You pushed me too far this time, you ugly bag of bones!" he shouted, waving his hooked hand in the air.

Hiccup looked at Stoick, confused. "Dad, what's he talking about? Our dragons don't do that anymore." He asked. "Technically, they still sometimes do-by accident." I pointed out.

Sure, Berk is at peace now with the dragons integrated into society but accidents sometimes _do _happen, which usually result in semi-burned down houses or semi-_destroyed_ houses.

"He doesn't mean one of yours." Stoick said to his son and me before looking at Gobber.

"Gobber, for the last time there is no such thing as a-" Gobber finished Stoick's sentence for him with, "_BoneKnapper?!_"

A couple of Vikings in the crowd groaned.

I had a feeling that this had happened before back when me and my friends hadn't been born yet because frankly, me, Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the Twins had no idea what Gobber was talking about.

"A What-Knapper?" Tuffnut asked, confused. Gobber answered his question with gusto. "A disgusting, foul beast wearing a coat of stolen bones like a giant, flying skeleton!" he said.

Fishlegs began jumping up and down. "Oh, oh, oh! The Dragon Manual says that the BoneKnapper will stop at nothing to find the perfect bone to build its coat of armor. It's _awesome!_" he said excitedly.

"Come on, it's just a myth! It doesn't even exist!" Stoick said in disbelief.

But Gobber wasn't taking any of it. "I'm telling you it's real! I've been running from him my whole life. He's the one who started this fire." He insisted.

That's when a Viking stepped forward, holding up a fire poker that had a pair of scorched underpants dangling from it.

"Stoick, we found Gobber's underpants hanging by the stove. They must've started the fire." He reported.

Well, _that _made us all crack up!

"Still think it's the BoneKnapper or just your underpants?" Stoick chuckled, handing Gobber his undies. "I don't think, I _know! _Somehow, he found me again. That dragon is pure evil." Gobber fumed.

"Gobber, it's late and we're too tired for your stories. Now, get some rest." Stoick told him.

"Since your house has burned down, Gob you can stay with us." My Mom, Henna Fiersome, offered. "Zenna, you wouldn't mind now, will you?" my Dad, Edgar Fiersome, took a look at me.

I shrugged. "Fine by me." As long as Stryka and I wore earplugs tonight, we could sleep through Gobber's loud snoring.

"You rest. I'm putting an end to this." Gobber declined, storming off saying, "Come on, Phil. Let's go. We don't need their help anyways."

Gobber's pet sheep, Phil (_or as I call him, "Loki in Disguise"-trust me, the sheep is a menace_) bleated and followed him. The rest of us just watched them head for the docks while the adults left for bed.

Hiccup shook his head. "We can't let him go by himself." He sighed and then turned to us.

"All right, Vikings. Grab your shields!" upon Hiccup's command, we cheered, "Yeah! Yes!"

A new adventure, perfect!

But Snotlout didn't seem pretty hyped. "There is no way I'm getting on a boat to go after a fake dragon." He said stubbornly.

The next day, we found ourselves rowing a long ship across the sea searching for the BoneKnapper.

"You were saying, Snotlout?" I asked nonchalantly to Snotlout who was sitting in front of me, stroking an oar along with all of us.

"Come on! Put your backs into it, you lazy dogs! Stroke!" Gobber barked at us as we stroked our heavy oars, trying to stay on course.

"You're not even trying! _Stroke!_"

Amidst Gobber's commands, Hiccup said brightly, "How fun is this, right? We got the team back together…another adventure…This is pretty cool, huh?"

As always, Hiccup looked on the bright side of things, something I admire a lot of him even though sometimes nothing goes according to plan.

"Yeah, nothing cooler than rowing until your hands bleed." Snotlout said, his voice oozing with sarcasm.

"It's too bad Stryka and the other dragons didn't come along. Then we'll be able to find the BoneKnapper in 30 minutes tops." I grunted as I stroked my oar.

But you know, our dragons deserved a break.

"I just want you kids to know that it touches my heart, you helping me slay the BoneKnapper. True Vikings, you are." Gobber said emotionally, wiping a tear.

"Gobber, are we there yet?" Ruffnut asked. "Oh, you'll know we're close when your ears explode from the piercing screams. Legend says this dragon's roar is so fierce, it can melt the flesh right off your bones!" Fishlegs answered her question.

A roar so fierce that it melts flesh right of the bone? Yeesh…That's a mental image that'll haunt me for a while.

I shuddered at the thought when Gobber said, "Not so, Fishlegs. The BoneKnapper has no roar at all. That's why he's terrifying. He's a _silent _killer."

Ruffnut looked confused. "Wait, so if we don't hear anything…we're dead?" she asked.

We all lapsed into silence, waiting for something to just, well…happen.

"I don't hear anything…" Tuffnut whispered after a few eerie minutes.

Suddenly…_Baaa!_

I swear to Odin I must've jumped half a foot off my seat along with the others!

We looked behind and instead of a BoneKnapper ready to rip us to pieces, it was Phil.

"Good one, Phil!" Gobber laughed.

"I swear that sheep is Loki in Disguise…" I whispered to Astrid through gritted teeth.

Then Gobber asked us, "Did I ever tell you about the first time I met the dreaded BoneKnapper?" We just looked at him with a blank look on all of our faces.

Gobber then launched into telling us the tale.

Apparently, when Gobber was about our age spending summer vacation with his family in the frozen North he had encountered the BoneKnapper. When he had to take a leak, Gobber asked his dad to pull the boat over so he could find a place to heed the call of nature.

After he did that and turned away from his tinkle spot, apparently Gobber saw an army of frozen Vikings in a glacier with a small treasure chest in the ice with them!

In my opinion if you ever saw an army of frozen Vikings with a small treasure chest, you should turn around, walk away and forget you ever saw anything.

Of course Gobber cracked the ice anyway to get the treasure, only to find out that the frozen Viking holding onto it was still alive!

Apparently he got punched in the face before the BoneKnapper suddenly came out of nowhere and ambushed him without so much as a sound. The beast crashed into the glacier, causing an avalanche of frozen Vikings. And apparently the treasure chest slipped out of Gobber's hands (_I suppose that when Gobber was our age he still had all his limbs intact_) and he chased it into the water, reached in and got punched in the face by the frozen Vikings _again!_

In my opinion, that's highly impossible.

The BoneKnapper wanted the treasure…but Gobber wanted it more!

In the end, he managed to get the treasure chest and hightailed it back to the boat where his parents were waiting.

I wore a plain expression while the others had confused ones as Gobber finished his tale.

"You expect us to believe that a frozen Viking punched you in the face?" Snotlout asked Gobber skeptically. "Yeah, _twice!_" Gobber replied emphatically.

We glanced at Hiccup. He shrugged and said, "Hey, it could happen."

At that, I gave him my most expressive '_Really?_' face, rolling my eye.

"What do you mean "_it could happen_"? It did! But I outsmarted the silent beast." Gobber said proudly.

Fishlegs, refusing to believe that the BoneKnapper was a silent dragon, spoke up. "Um, Gobber, I hate to be a stickler for details, but…BoneKnappers are not silent."

I was about to double up on his theory with a question regarding the BoneKnapper's existence when I suddenly noticed rocks jutting out of the water.

"Fishlegs, I know what I didn't hear. But I could feel it…" As Gobber said this, I nudged Fishlegs and pointed to the rocks.

He saw it and started trying to alert the others along with me.

"Um, guys? Are there supposed to be…?" he squeaked nervously. "Guys, I think we're nearing land…" I said uneasily as more rocks started appearing out of the waves.

Gobber was still carrying on when I said again, "Guys, we're nearing land. Maybe we should get back to rowing!"

Fishlegs was with me saying, "I really think we're gonna hit these…"

"I could taste the oncoming doom!" Gobber concluded, just as our boat hit the rocks!

I gripped my seat tightly to keep from lurching forward and yelped along with the others. The boat rocked violently a bit for a few seconds before it went still.

"Whoa…" Tuffnut mumbled, a little dazed.

"Um, I'm tasting rocks." Astrid said, looking around.

"Fishlegs and I tried to warn you." I pointed out.

Great…

Thanks to Gobber's storytelling, we got too entranced by the tale of the BoneKnapper and have now stranded ourselves on a desolate, deserted island with no way how to get home!

Why, oh, why did I let Stryka stay back home?

Gobber didn't seem too worried.

"Ah, we're here." He proclaimed, getting off the boat.

Noticing that our ship was sinking, we all scrambled to get off and waded to shore. I looked around and saw that aside from rocks and dust, the island we shipwrecked ourselves on was littered with bones.

Maybe there was a _slim _chance the BoneKnapper was real…

But my musings were interrupted when we all saw the boat we had been on sink into the water.

"Ugh! Now we're stuck in the middle of nowhere, and no one even knows where we are." Ruffnut complained.

"Of all the days we chose to let our dragons stay at home…" I muttered in agreement.

Fishlegs was starting to panic a little. "Except the BoneKnapper. Legend says…" he began to say before Snotlout cut in. "Hey, you know what legend also says? Stop talking!" he exclaimed.

"Okay, just hold on one darn second…"

Tired of listening to Fishlegs' prattling and not wanting to hear another snappy comment from Snotlout, I went between them and clapped both my hands over their mouths.

"I'd greatly appreciate it if you two just gave us some peace!" I glared at the two while Tuffnut seemed to enjoy watching the spectacle with his sister while Astrid and Hiccup just looked around the island.

Luckily Gobber came in to slightly diffuse the madness. "No need to panic, kids. I've been shipwrecked many times!" he said cheerfully.

Okay…Not the kind of calming words I wanted to hear.

"Oh, well that's comforting." Hiccup said sarcastically. "And this helps us with our predicament in what way now, Gobber?" I asked, really hoping that I'd still have some sanity left when we get back home. So far, this wild dragon chase has been a disaster!

Instead of answering my question, Gobber got comfy on a stone. "You never forget your first shipwreck…" he said wistfully.

We all sighed.

Here we go again, another story…

Gobber launched into his tale with gusto. "I was stranded on an island, with only my broom!"

I figured that at this time, Gobber had already lost his left hand…

"It was a very small island. It's no wonder the BoneKnapper found me again. He never forgave me for taking that treasure.

There was another island.

My only escape.

But I was surrounded by blood-thirsty hammerhead sharks!

I only had one chance. So, I ran across the shark-infested waters. I didn't think I was going to make it. But then, from the depths of the ocean leapt forth…a giant _Hammerhead Whale!_"

At that point of the story, I decided to interrupt. "Okay, I _kind of _believe the part with the Hammerhead Sharks but a Hammerhead _Whale?_" I asked Gobber in disbelief. The others nodded in agreement with me.

Except for Fishlegs who asked in amazement, "_Whoa! _So the Hammerhead Whale ate the BoneKnapper?"

Hiccup and I looked at each other and sighed at Ingerman's naivety. I made a mental note to tell Fishlegs later that while I'm no whale expert, I'm pretty sure that there is no such thing as Hammerhead Whale.

"Almost, but he got away. Years later, the dragon hunted me down again and chased me into the jungle." Gobber continued.

Astrid and I inwardly groaned.

From one crazy story to another, even crazier one…

"All I had was my trusty eggbeater. I carved through that thick brush as fast as a jungle cat. Still, the BoneKnapper was right behind! I ran up the side of a volcano and courageously leapt across the fiery crater. Then, deep within the burning volcano burst forth a giant Hammerhead _Yak!_"

Ruffnut, Snotlout, Hiccup, Astrid and I all looked at Gobber, incredulous.

Could Gobber's story get any crazier?

"Okay, wait a minute…Now you're saying that a giant Hammerhead Yak leapt out of the fiery volcano and ate the BoneKnapper?" Tuffnut asked suspiciously. The rest of us gave the blacksmith a questioning look as well.

Instead of getting uncomfortable, Gobber carried on with his tale.

"You would've thought so, wouldn't you? But the dragon got away _again!_ I knew the bony scoundrel would keep coming after me…

So, I set up a gauntlet of traps, and waited for the beast…

And when he was ready…he charged!

And then…I ran like the wind!

But the traps failed!"

I was praying Gobber would just say that things worked out in the end now but, no…he carried on by saying that when he was captured, he did what any brave Viking would do (_which I'm pretty sure was yell for help_).

"The gods must've heard my prayer. It was Thor!"

At that, I looked up in slight amazement.

"He tossed a mighty thunderbolt. Then, from the center of the earth (_I guessed that Thor didn't hit the BoneKnapper but struck at the ground instead_) blasted forth…_the Hammerhead Yak __riding__ the Hammerhead Whale!_"

And just like that…Gobber's tall tale got even taller.

I sighed and dropped my head into my hands and I swear that the rest of the gang except for Fishlegs did the same thing.

"Whoa…the whale saluted you?" Fishlegs asked excitedly.

"Can you believe it? But the BoneKnapper got away _again!_ He found me on Berk…" as Gobber rambled onto our current situation, the rest of us had had enough.

"Are you kidding? I don't believe any of this!" Snotlout grumbled.

"Yeah, you totally made everything up!" Tuffnut agreed with him. Ruffnut joined her brother with, "Come on, Gobber it's time to get out of here!"

"We need to get home!" Snotlout said.

Then Tuffnut yelled, "You don't even have any proof that that thing even exists!"

At Tuffnut's accusation, Gobber replied, "Of course I have proof. I still have the treasure: _this stunning belt buckle._"

To emphasize his point, Gobber lifted the hem of his tunic and vest up so we could look at his belt. A weird T-shaped bone was holding his pants up!

It was in the Viking's treasure chest. It's kept my pants up for years." Gobber said proudly.

"It looks more like a bone to me." I said to which Fishlegs said, "It _is _stunning." Leaning down to get a closer look before Gobber shooed him.

I looked at Astrid, then Hiccup and back to Astrid again. Getting my message, Astrid gave Hiccup a punch to urge him to say something.

"Um…Listen, Gobber…Instead of chasing down an imaginary dragon, maybe we should figure out how to get home?" he said.

Gobber grinned, "Say no more, I hear 'ya loud and clear. I've got a plan."

We all looked at each other, relieved.

But our relief was short-lived.

"All right, who'd like to be _dragon bait?_" All our eyes just landed on Fishlegs while Phil trotted away. A little later, our brilliant blacksmith formulated a plan, alright. But it wasn't a plan to get home.

"This has got to be the most ridiculous plan I've ever participated in…" I muttered to Hiccup. "Tell me about it…" he mumbled in agreement as we checked out the complex BoneKnapper trap Gobber had set up.

Fishlegs who was now wearing a Gobber disguise stood under a giant ribcage which was held up by a rope propped up by another bone and Phil stationed on a tall stack of rock nearby.

"Um, Gobber. Are you sure this is safe?" Fishlegs squeaked nervously. "Ah, safety's overrated." Gobber waved to him before turning to the rest of us.

"Okay, here's the plan. The BoneKnapper wants me, right? He comes down that trail, sees Fishlegs, thinks it's me, rushes Fishlegs, causing Phil to trip that rope, dropping that ribcage and then we rush in and finish him off once and for all!" he explained to us.

The six of us just stared.

"It's sad when they get old…" Snotlout whispered to us.

"Isn't this going against our '_no more killing dragons_' policy, Gobber?" I questioned.

Hiccup on the other hand, lost his patience. "Gobber you're taking this way too far, okay? You need to face it. There-There is _no such thing_ as the BoneKnapper!" he exclaimed.

"Wormsquat! Now, get into position." Gobber said, herding us to behind a small rock piling so we could wait.

"Way to go Fishlegs, you're doing fine!" Gobber yelled encouragingly.

"Gobber, this is getting ridiculous! We wanna go home!" I hissed.

"No wonder the entire village thinks you're crazy!" Hiccup agreed with me.

"Can anyone here tell me if you believe him?" I asked rhetorically. "Hello? He sees dead Vikings!" Snotlout answered.

"I don't believe any of this stuff!" Ruffnut grumbled. "Yeah, especially that thing about the Hammerhead Yak…" Tuffnut agreed.

Suddenly I heard Fishlegs call out, "Um, guys…?"

But I chose to ignore him and said to the male Thorston, "I know, right? About a 100% percent of his story is crazy."

"This is a complete waste of time…" Astrid chimed in as we continued to complain.

"Guys, hello?!" Fishlegs began to get more insistent.

"Turn around!"

I rolled my eye.

Sheesh, what was Fishlegs getting so worked up about? The BoneKnapper is a _myth!_ Gobber's trap wasn't gonna work at all!

"Guys! _Guys!_" Fishlegs screamed at us at last, prompting us all to shout, "_What?!_"

And _that's _when I felt a large presence looming above and behind us along with the feeling of hot breath on our backs.

I froze in shock while Hiccup deadpanned, "It's right behind us, isn't it?"

We all turned around…and there it was.

The BoneKnapper in all its bony glory.

I had to blink several times to make sure I wasn't seeing things. The BoneKnapper was humongous, wore a coat of rattling bones over its skin and, like Gobber said, when it tried to roar at us it could only produce a barely audible squeak.

"Well, what do you know? No roar." Fishlegs said in amazement.

The BoneKnapper couldn't roar, alright. But it looked _angry!_

"_Run!_" Gobber hollered as the BoneKnapper charged!

We ran for our lives!

"Okay, Gobber, we believe you!" Astrid yelled. "Yeah, totally believe you now!" I yelped as we reached Fishlegs and Phil, of all things, dropped the ribcage on us!

"_Phil!_" "_You Loki in Disguise!_" Gobber and I both yelled just before the BoneKnapper shot out a plume of flame!

Luckily we took cover behind the rib bones. While the others started panicking, I looked at the BoneKnapper carefully. There had to be something that can calm it down…

That's when I saw the empty notch in its chest armor, which looked strangely familiar…

Quickly I tapped Hiccup on the shoulder and pointed at the notch. He looked at it for a few seconds and then his face lit up in recognition.

"Bring it on! You wait till I get out there and I'll show you!" Gobber was busy egging the dragon on and that gave the two of us a good opportunity to look at his belt buckle.

"It searches for the perfect bone to complete its coat of armor…_The treasure!_" Hiccup said in realization.

"You mean Gobber's belt buckle!" I said to him.

The two of us looked at each other and nodded.

We knew just what to do…

"Gobber, _take off your pants!_" Hiccup and I both shouted.

Gobber gave us a confused look while our friends all yelled, "_No!_"

Guys, he _has _to!" I said firmly while trying to keep myself from visualizing any gross mental images of Gobber in his underwear.

"Wait, listen to me. I think Fishlegs was right. The BoneKnapper _is _supposed to have a roar. But, maybe he can't because the bone he needs is your belt buckle." Hiccup explained.

"The reason why he's been chasing after you Gobber, is because the treasure is the missing piece of his armor. If you give him back his bone, he'll leave you alone." I agreed.

Pretty soon, all of us were trying to convince Gobber.

"Gobber, please, you have to give it back." Astrid pleaded.

But Gobber was as stubborn as a yak.

"No way, it's _mine!_" that's all he got to say before the BoneKnapper snatched him up by his peg leg!

As Gobber dangled from the dragon's mouth, Hiccup and I were yelling at him.

"_Give him back his bone!_"

"_No!_"

When the BoneKnapper looked like he was about to throw Gobber up into the air, Hiccup and I yelled even louder.

"GIVE HIM BACK HIS BONE!"

"NO!" Gobber yelled back as the BoneKnapper threw him up into the air!

"Noooo…oh, alright."

Finally, Gobber gave in, took his belt buckle off and flung it towards the BoneKnapper in mid-air. Luckily his aim was spot-on and the bone went right into the exact spot on the BoneKnapper's chest.

Gobber then landed on the ground in a heap. We nervously watched him get to his feet just as the BoneKnapper let out a roar.

It wasn't exactly flesh-melting but, wow, it was loud!

"Wow! That roar really packs a punch!" I shouted over the roar.

When the BoneKnapper stopped roaring, it focused its attention on Gobber.

"_Gobber!_" Hiccup yelped as we looked on in anxious horror. Oh, gods our blacksmith friend was dead meat for sure!

"All right, you've got me. Make it fast." Gobber said, bravely bracing himself for his own demise.

Imagine our shock when, instead of cooking Gobber with his flame, the BoneKnapper started nuzzling him like a puppy!

It was kind of amusing…until Gobber's pants fell down and we saw his singed underpants.

The seven of us recoiled back in horror.

"That's gonna give me nightmares." Hiccup remarked. "No kidding! Oh Odin! My eye!" I exclaimed dramatically, covering my one eye with both my hands.

As soon as we got over the horrific incident, Astrid piped up with, "Well, at least we have a ride home."

We amusedly watched Gobber play with the BoneKnapper. "Aren't you cute? Yes you are, yes you are!" he cooed to the dragon.

I looked at Hiccup.

"After this Hiccup, I'm never doubting Gobber and his stories ever again." I smiled at him. "Feeling's mutual, Zen." Hiccup grinned at me as we slammed hands.

Our shouts and yells of enjoyment echoed out as we flew over the ocean. The BoneKnapper had happily let us get on his back so we could go home. And while the ride was a little bumpy, we were having fun.

"You know, I never doubted him. I was always like, "_He's right._"" Snotlout boasted, making me and Astrid roll our eyes.

"This tailbone is hurting _my _tailbone!" Tuffnut complained while Ruffnut just snickered.

All the while, our new, bony friend was roaring happily.

"He sure seems happy to have that bone back!" Hiccup laughed after the BoneKnapper had let loose another loud roar.

"Well, legend says that the BoneKnapper's roar _is _its mating call." Fishlegs quipped. "Oh, that's just a myth!" Gobber chided.

I was admiring the view around us when I spotted a couple of shapes on the horizon headed towards us…

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Gobber." I chuckled as the roars sounded.

"Uh-oh…" Gobber mumbled.

Phil bleated while the rest of us watched in amazement as more BoneKnappers joined us in our flight home.

"I think Stoick will believe me now, eh?" Gobber chuckled.

'_He sure will, Gobber. He sure will!_' I smiled as Berk came into view.

**Epilogue**

Well, you can imagine how shocked everyone on Berk was when we got home.

Stoick, in particular, just stared open-mouthed at the BoneKnappers while Gobber gloatingly told him of our adventure the whole time.

My parents were of course worried that I might've gotten hurt but I told them that I was okay.

Stryka had instantly hit it off with the BoneKnappers along with the other dragons. But when I went over to her, she gave me a pouty look and swatted me with her wing. I guess she felt jealous that my friends and I got to go on a new adventure while she didn't.

"Yeah, yeah I know. I shouldn't have gone without you, Stryka. I promise that next time an opportunity for adventure presents itself, I'll take you along." I laughed. At that, Stryka smiled toothlessly at me and licked my face. Oh well, I can always wash it off.

But what I learned on this new adventure is that no matter how crazy Gobber and his stories may seem…it's best to believe him.

**-Zenna Fiersome**


	22. Book of Dragons

**I'm back y'all **

**I noticed that no one has ever posted in the HTTYD fanfic archive a story based on the short "Book of Dragons" so I decided to try.**

**Also, since I am such a die-hard HTTYD fan, I added myself into the story :D**

**Enjoy!**

**Important Note: I do NOT own HTTYD**

**Book of Dragons**

'_Remember what life used to be like on Berk?_

_Dragons._

_You had to be crazy to live here. But we're Vikings. Crazy is what we do best._

_And I guess my best friend, Hiccup, and I had enough crazy in us to do something no Viking had ever done before._

_We trained dragons._

_Life on Berk hasn't been the same since. And now, our friends and us have the greatest job in the world._

_We're Dragon Trainers!_

_Living with dragons-it ain't easy. _

_It brings a new adventure every day and there's so much to learn. Because if you wanna train dragons, you have to know dragons._

_So if you hurry, you can join us in the Great Hall where we're just about to start a new class…'_

It was the early evening and Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Gobber and I were in the Great Hall updating the Book of Dragons.

What they didn't know was that I had invited GuardianDragon98, a friend of mine, to join us in class. She's been wanting to become a Dragon Trainer so I sent her a letter inviting her to join our class.

And tonight was her first lesson.

Right now, Hiccup was drawing a detailed drawing of a Gronckle.

"So _that's _a Gronckle!" Astrid said, admiring the drawing. "Correct! And you cannot tell its head from its tail." Hiccup smiled as he added the finishing touches.

"Right, right!" Astrid nodded at him. I had to smile. Ever since she and Hiccup had begun a relationship, Astrid's been a lot more relaxed and emotionally open. She and I are now actually good friends.

"Well, I kind of figured out a way to tell which is which when a Gronckle's asleep." I piped up.

At that juncture, Hiccup looked at me curiously.

"But…it's my little secret so I'm not telling!" I grinned mischievously, winking my one eye.

"Awww…" Hiccup whined, giving me a pouty look.

"When a Gronckle's asleep, the big end is the head while the smaller one's the tail!" I blurted out, unable to resist my best friend's look of pleading.

I ended up caving in. Hey, I can't help it! When Hiccup wants to know something, I do my best to share whatever knowledge I have with him.

"Oh, and Gronckles do _not _like to be scratched under their chins. I found it out the hard way…" Fishlegs piped up. "So _that's _why your parents came over to my house asking for burn ointment two weeks ago…" I mused while keeping watch on the Great Hall's doors.

"Okay…No scratching under chin…Got it." Hiccup then wrote down all the new info in the Gronckle page.

Suddenly Toothless, Hiccup's Night Fury, bounded over to our table looking really excited! "Whoa…What…? Toothless! What's up, bud?" Hiccup grinned upon seeing his best dragon friend. Toothless promptly gave us a croon, telling us to look behind us.

I looked and saw _my _Night Fury, Stryka, leading a black haired girl around me and my friends' age with almond shaped black eyes hiding behind silver-rimmed glasses wearing a red tunic, black leather skirt, red leggings and brown fur boots over to us.

I smiled. GuardianDragon98 had arrived!

"Oh, hey!" Hiccup greeted the newcomer who smiled shyly as Stryka crooned and nuzzled her.

"Whoa! A new Dragon Trainer!" Fishlegs said excitedly as Gobber came over.

"Ah, a new recruit! Want to train dragons, do ye?" Gobber asked GuardianDragon98 who nodded eagerly.

"Looks eager enough." Astrid commented.

"This one's got potential." Hiccup smiled at her.

"Well, she does. _I'm _the one who invited her here." I proudly informed them.

"Yeah! Zenna and I've been exchanging letters back and forth. She's been giving me a lot of pointers. I'm a bit of an expert, if I do say so myself." GuardianDragon98 said with a hint of pride.

"Aye, we'll see about that." Gobber chuckled, motioning for her to sit down and placed the Book of Dragons in front of her and opened it.

"Here it is. The Book of Dragons. Between these two covers are the most incredible creatures you'd ever hoped to see." He said grandly.

"Cool…" GuardianDragon98 said in awe, looking at the many colorful, well-drawn pictures of the different dragons before looking at Hiccup.

"Did you draw these?" she asked to which Hiccup replied, "Some of them."

"Oh! A Terrible Terror…Gronckle…Deadly Nadder…a Monstrous Nightmare…Hideous Zippleback…Ooohh, the Red Death…and…um…" GuardianDragon98 pointed the familiar dragon species one-by-one but got confused when she spotted the other dragons I hadn't told her about yet.

"Some you know, but there are some you've never seen before." Gobber said, upon seeing her confused look. "I've got a _lot _to learn…" GuardianDragon98 said.

"And you won't last a day out there if you don't learn the facts in here!" Gobber decided to add that in order to scare her. But my friend didn't seem a bit afraid.

"Gobber, you can't scare us. We've already trained dragons." Hiccup laughed.

"No sense trying to fear them because we don't fear them anymore." I piped up in agreement.

"Ach, this book contains more than just training. It's the key to unlocking a new world of dragons. And I don't suppose you know who started it all, do you?" Gobber said, looking at us.

I thought it had something to do with Bork the Bold." Astrid replied, turning the pages of the book to a drawing of a heroic, yet rather tubby, Viking warrior with a big round nose and fiery red-orange beard.

"Well-spotted, lass. But _before _he was bold, he was known as Bork the Very, Very Unfortunate." Gobber told us. We all looked at him strangely.

"That's an…odd nickname." Hiccup said.

"A very unfortunate nickname." I agreed with him.

"He must've had a _lot _of bad luck to earn that title." GuardianDragon98 chimed in.

"Aye, but apparently it seemed that everything Bork touched went wrong." Gobber sighed, letting us look at a drawing of Bork getting smacked in the face by a hoe, accidentally setting his house on fire and finally, getting struck by lightning.

I frowned. Wow…Bork really _was _very, very unfortunate!

"Bork was my great-great-great grandfather. And he started out as a shepherd. But his flock got very small." Gobber continued.

I imagined a dragon must've eaten Bork's entire flock until only a wee little lamb remained with him.

"The fact is, Bork and dragons didn't seem to mix. So he gave blacksmithing a try…and he had a go at farming. But he settled for the life of a fisherman." Gobber concluded. We were all amazed at how many jobs Bork had tried only to get one-upped by the dragons.

No wonder he got the name Bork the Very, Very Unfortunate!

"Wow, four jobs…And I bet even as a fisherman, Bork still had a hard time." I commented. "No kidding. I bet he couldn't even eat his lunch in peace!" GuardianDragon98 agreed with me.

Gobber nodded. "And he used to say, "_If you see a dragon: Kill on sight_". You kids taught us that we could train a dragon, but it was Bork who had the idea to classify them. And what does Bork say is the first class of dragons?" Gobber, saying this, looked to Hiccup.

"Oh, that's easy. _Stoker Class._" Hiccup answered, turning the pages to the one with the Stoker Class symbol, which was represented by the Monstrous Nightmare.

Hiccup looked at GuardianDragon98, who was bouncing in her seat with excitement, and smiled.

"Now according to the book, these hot-headed dragons are fearsome fire-breathers." He explained to her.

"As their Class name suggests, Stoker Class dragons are rather good in stoking the flames they breathe." I said helpfully before we went to the Terrible Terror section of the book.

"And when training a Terror, start with a very shiny object." Hiccup told GuardianDragon98 who, along with Astrid, gushed at the drawing of the tiny Stoker Class dragon with, "Oh, he's _cute!_"

"Cute?! Maybe on his own. But Bork says that if you get these little Terrors in a group, it's no picnic." To prove his point, Gobber showed us a picture of Bork getting attacked by a 13 member pack of Terrible Terrors!

"Ouch…" GuardianDragon98 cringed.

"You see, Terrors are social creatures. They love to hunt in packs." Gobber explained to her.

"Now what about this brute?" Gobber then turned the pages to…

"The Monstrous Nightmare."

We looked at the drawing of the big self-igniting dragon, fascinated.

"You can see how this foul beast got his name. Nary a Viking has tamed this fierce creature." Gobber said.

"My friend Snotlout has one named Hookfang. But he hasn't exactly tamed him yet. Hookfang's practically fries Snotlout's butt whenever he sits on him." I whispered to GuardianDragon98, making her giggle.

"But you know what Bork used to say? '_You fall down, you get right back on the dragon._'" Gobber said before Astrid piped up with, "I bet he didn't know that the Nightmare can set itself on fire."

"That must've been quite a surprise for Bork." I agreed with her.

"How _does _a Monstrous Nightmare light itself up? I thought all dragons get their fire from the inside." GuardianDragon98 asked curiously.

"A Monstrous Nightmare's spit, you see, is some sort of flammable gel and can coat its entire body allowing the dragon to ignite it on its own. It's called the "_Flame Jacket_", the Monstrous Nightmare's signature attack strategy." I explained to her.

"Oh…" GuardianDragon98 then pulled out a notebook and pencil she had on hand to write down all the information. When she saw the drawings of an angry Monstrous Nightmare setting itself on fire, her eyes widened.

"And if there's one thing you don't want, it's an angry Nightmare. That's why we tried a more gentle approach." Astrid told her.

"Instead of wrestling a Monstrous Nightmare, just give them a little respect. A gentle hand on his snout." Hiccup suggested.

"Looks like you kids have made some breakthroughs." Gobber smiled before turning to Fishlegs.

"All right, Fishlegs. Why don't you tell us about your dragon?" he asked.

Fishlegs smiled and opened the book to the Boulder Class page that had the symbol of the Gronckle and went to the Gronckle Chapter.

"Meatlug's my Gronckle and Gronckles are tough, rock-eating Boulder Class dragons." Fishlegs said proudly.

"They eat _rocks?_" GuardianDragon98 asked, her eyes wide. "That's why they're called _Boulder _Class dragons. Granite, sandstone, limestone…whatever rock there is on earth, Boulder Class dragons love to eat them." I told her smiling.

"But how do you train a Gronckle?" Astrid asked Hiccup. "A Gronckle won't stay mad at you, if you just feed him a little Dragon Nip." Hiccup replied.

"Dragon Nip?" GuardianDragon98 asked me.

"This." I gave her a sprig and told her, "Keep it. You'll never know when you'll encounter a dragon that needs calming down." With a wink.

GuardianDragon98 smiled and pocketed the sprig of Dragon Nip.

"Yeah! And like all dragons, Gronckles are rumored to have five stages of maturity. The first stage is the egg. Then the tiny teeth. The short wing. The broad wing. And the last stage is the titan wing, which is extremely rare." As Fishlegs said this, he pointed to drawings of the Gronckle's different stages of maturity.

"Rare, but a sight to behold. Let's look at another from the Boulder Class." Gobber then turned the pages to a page where there was a picture of a terrifying snake-like dragon with thousands of teeth in its mouth!

"The Whispering Death. Just saying its name gives you the shivers. Whohohoho…" Gobber said spookily in order to scare GuardianDragon98 who, once again, was unfazed.

"You're tough as nails, girl!" I commented.

"Thanks!" she grinned at me before turning back to the lesson.

"Bork says the Whispering Death knows only one thing: _killing!_" To prove it, Gobber showed us a drawing of Bork and his…girlfriend dating and, ugh, kissing while Whispering Deaths tunneled under the ground.

"He burrows through dirt and rock, attacking from below." Gobber said.

Fishlegs then piped up with, "Their rotating teeth can bore through anything." Showing GuardianDragon98 a detailed drawing of the Whispering Death's mouth, full of sharp, rotating teeth!

"Okay. _That's _kind of scary…" GuardianDragon98 gulped.

"And these Boulder Class baddies are so wicked, they can breathe rings of fire! But even though these dragons have a fearsome reputation, it turns out they just love to be brushed." Fishlegs grinned, showing the drawing of a Viking (_that somewhat looked a lot like Fishlegs himself_) brushing a Whispering Death's teeth.

"They're not so scary once you get to know them." I told GuardianDragon98 and she stopped looking so nervous.

"With patience, any dragon can be trained. Even this next batch." Hiccup said, turning the page to one with the Hideous Zippleback symbol which stood for the…

"_Fear Class._ These dragons are silent, they're sneaky, they turn up when you least expect them." Hiccup told us.

"No wonder they're called Fear Class for a reason." I quipped.

"If Fear Class dragons are so sneaky, how did Bork find one?" Astrid asked Gobber. "Oh, he did better than find one. He found the _lair _of a Zippleback." Gobber told us, opening the book to the Hideous Zippleback section and showed us a drawing of Bork and a small sheep exploring a dragon's lair.

"Well, actually, it wasn't _he _who found it, it was his trusted sheep, Willy." Gobber corrected himself before asking, "And what do you know of a Zippleback?"

Hiccup answered with, "Got two heads. Twice the danger. One head releases gas…the other ignites it."

"The Hideous Zippleback's fire is by far, one of the most unique." I told GuardianDragon98 and showed her a drawing of the Zippleback's heads working together to fire.

"And if you feed both heads at once, they become one agreeable dragon." Astrid added.

"Do your Twin friends, Ruff and Tuff, know that?" GuardianDragon98 asked me. "While Barf and Belch do fight a lot like their Riders, Ruffnut and Tuffnut always feed them at the same time." I said.

"That's right! If you want to befriend a dragon, it's a good idea to start by feeding it. And once they're fed, make sure you play with them." Fishlegs advised.

"You kids are full of good tips." Gobber complimented before turning the pages.

"But what happens when you go from two heads to _four?!_" Gobber then showed us a drawing of a dragon that was a lot like the Hideous Zippleback, but instead of two heads this dragon had _four!_

"It's the Venus flytrap of dragons, the Devious Snaptrapper! Haha!" Gobber laughed as Astrid began to read from the book.

"The book says, that this wild beast has enticed many a Viking into its deadly trap with its sweet smell of chocolate." She said.

_That _got both me and GuardianDragon98's attention.

"Uh-oh…I'm a chocoholic. I better be careful when I see one of them Snaptrappers…" I quipped. "Same here!" GuardianDragon98 agreed with me.

Fishlegs then continued with, "And like all dragons, the Snaptrapper sheds its scales."

"And its claws." Astrid chimed in.

"Poor Snaptrapper." GuardianDragon98 cooed, seeing a picture of a sad, scale less and clawless Snaptrapper.

"But they all grow back." Astrid said, showing her a picture of a now happy, scaled _and _clawed Snaptrapper.

"With all those heads, Bork must have had four times the trouble." Astrid remarked.

"Maybe even eight times the trouble. Barf and Belch can cause four times the trouble all on their own!" I said.

"Aye, that's a fact. Until one day, Bork made an interesting discovery. Snaptrappers love rain. And they can't wait to play in the mud." Gobber informed us.

GuardianDragon98 giggled as she saw a drawing of Bork getting splattered with mud by a playful Snaptrapper in the rain.

"Well, the Snaptrapper is incredible, but let's see what secrets we uncover with the next class of dragons." Fishlegs said.

At this juncture, Astrid flipped the pages to the one with the Deadly Nadder symbol of…

"The _Sharp Class._ These dragons have a generous dose of vanity, and spend a lot of time preening."

True enough, we saw pictures of the dragons admiring themselves in whatever thing they could see their reflection in.

"Astrid's Deadly Nadder, Stormfly is one of the vainest dragons I've ever met. But she's still really nice." I whispered to GuardianDragon98 who whispered back, "I think I'll make a necklace for her."

"My personal favorite is the Deadly Nadder." Astrid said, turning the pages so we could see a detailed drawing of the Sharp Class dragon.

"Bork says that Nadders have the hottest fire in the dragon world." Astrid informed us.

"Their magnesium flame burns with the heat of the sun." I whispered to GuardianDragon98. "Cool…er, um, _hot_, I mean!" she giggled.

"We found the best way to train her was to approach her carefully, slowly moving around back toward her tail." Astrid said, earning a surprised look from Gobber.

"Her tail? You've gone mad?! It's full of poisonous spikes that can launch at will!" the blacksmith said incredulously.

"Really? Stormfly can do that?" GuardianDragon98 asked in amazement.

"Yes, but if you move slowly enough, and you show her you're not a threat, she'll let you smooth her tail spikes down." Astrid told her.

Hiccup then joined in. "There's more to the Sharp Class than just Nadders. Let's look at what Bork wrote about the Timberjack." He said, turning the pages until we saw the drawing of a dragon with a slim and slender body but had gigantic wings.

"This dragon attacks out of the sky with razor-sharp wings, and can slice through a forest of trees like a giant guillotine." Gobber told us.

"Cool!" GuardianDragon98 and I exclaimed in awe.

"But those long wings of the Timberjack make it impossible for him to even scratch his back." Hiccup said.

"Aw…" GuardianDragon98 and I both said, feeling bad for the Timberjack.

"Yep, and if you scratch his itch, he's your friend forever." Fishlegs told us.

"Another brilliant survival tip. A perfect opportunity to teach our new trainer about this class of dragons." Gobber said as he turned the pages to a page with a Scauldron symbol.

"Oh, oh, oh! My favorite class!" GuardianDragon98 squealed excitedly.

"The _Tidal Class._ These beasts live in the watery deep but they can out-swim the fastest ship." Gobber said as we oohed and aahed in awe.

"Did Bork even know that the sea was full of dragons?" Fishlegs asked. "Not at first. But he soon found out that the open sea was no easier, because if there's one thing that sea dragons like to eat more than a fish, it's a whole boatload of fish." Gobber told him.

We then saw a drawing of Bork getting his whole catch eaten by a large sea dragon.

"Wow, even the life of a fisherman was hard for Bork!" I remarked. "No kidding. And that sea dragon is huge!" GuardianDragon98 agreed with me.

"And after that first sighting, Bork called it a Scauldron. As we now know, that sea dragon fills itself up with water, then he heats it up in his giant cauldron-like stomach. One blast of that hot water and you're finished." Gobber warned us.

"Scalding hot water and cauldron-like stomach…the name Scauldron makes sense." I quipped.

"Yeah and they're one of my favorite dragons!" GuardianDragon98 grinned.

"We found out something surprising about Scauldrons. If you wanna train them, douse yourself with water. Turns out they like anything that reminds them of home." Hiccup told GuardianDragon98.

"I better try that then. I've always wanted to train a Scauldron!" she said excitedly, making me smile at her enthusiasm.

"Look at what also lurks in the deep." Gobber turned the pages again to a new dragon species.

"It's the mighty Thunderdrum. This beast moves through the water like a tornado and is capable of delivering a sonic blast of pure dragon power." Gobber told us, pointing to the drawing of the Thunderdrum with its huge, gaping mouth wide open.

"Wow, with a mouth like that it'd be hard to _not _hear the Thunderdrum's roaring sonic boom." I remarked, fascinated at the mouth's sheer size.

"How did Bork find one?" GuardianDragon98 asked Gobber, her eyes widening behind her glasses in curiosity.

"The story goes that Bork got lost ice-fishing and he stumbled across a Thunderdrum nest." Gobber explained, showing us a picture of Bork kicking at a Thunderdrum egg.

"Don't kick the egg, Bork! You're gonna hurt the baby Thunderdrum!" GuardianDragon98 said in a playful, scolding manner. "Or more accurately, the baby Thunderdrum's gonna hurt _you._" I added, chuckling.

"That must have been quite a rude awakening, because when a Thunderdrum hatches from its shell, it makes a sound so loud, it rattles the sky!" Gobber concluded with a drawing of Bork getting blown sky high, courtesy of a hatching Thunderdrum.

Whoa, if that's what a hatching Thunderdrum _egg _could do, imagine what a _hatchling _could do!

Then Gobber turned the pages to a new one with a Dragon Class symbol that had all of us racking our brains to figure out what the dragon symbolizing the Class was and what Class it represented.

"Now here's a class that might stump you." Gobber said and smiled upon seeing our confused expressions.

"What symbol is that?" Fishlegs asked. "It's the symbol of the Mystery Class. We don't really know how these guys work. That's why they're a mystery." Gobber explained before turning the pages.

We all leaned in closer to look but all we saw were a bunch of drawings of different sceneries.

That's when my sharp (_and only one_) eye spotted a pair of dragon eyes hiding in each scenery.

Gobber caught my eye and smiled.

"Is it a tree? Is it a rock? No, it's the Changewing! This strange dragon can disappear into any environment." Gobber told us.

"Bork noticed that Changewings are curious creatures. And they display mimicking behavior. Whatever they see, they love to copy." Hiccup said, showing GuardianDragon98 a funny picture of Bork getting his face burnt by a Changewing disguised as a tree mimicking him blowing on embers in a fire by using its own fire that made her giggle.

"Changewings are known for their acid breath and their ability to hypnotize. But finding one takes a keen eye." Gobber told us.

"Good thing I've got the one." I smiled as I pointed the Changewing out correctly in each different environment.

"Does being able to change color mean their skin is softer?" Astrid asked curiously. "For some, yes. And it makes them vulnerable to attack, so these dragons protect themselves in a strange way. Like this beauty…" At that, Gobber turned the pages to the BoneKnapper section of the Book of Dragons.

"Oh, there's a familiar face." I grinned, recalling my previous encounter of the bone-wearing dragon with my friends not so long ago.

"The BoneKnapper. This odd creature collects the bones of dead dragons and makes itself an unusual coat of armor." Gobber explained, showing us pictures of the BoneKnapper and the different kinds of bones it uses for its armor.

"That's a lot of bones…" GuardianDragon98 murmured.

"The best way to deal with this brutal bag of bones is to subdue it with force and fear and firepower!" Gobber said confidently.

We all looked at each other knowingly. I had already told the story to GuardianDragon98 so she didn't buy Gobber's claim either.

"Sure, right. That's what _you _did, Gobber." Fishlegs said sarcastically before we started laughing.

Gobber blushed. "All right, all right, all right. You give a BoneKnapper whatever it's looking for and it's just like an overgrown puppy dog." He admitted before hastily adding, "Look, why don't we go on to the next class of dragons?"

"Finally, _Strike Class!_" Fishlegs said excitedly as the pages were turned to the Strike Class page, proudly bearing the Night Fury symbol.

Toothless and Stryka got excited and went over to our table to look. Hiccup and I looked at each other and smiled.

Then Hiccup began reading, "Every dragon in this class is characterized by blazing speed, vice-like jaw strength and extreme intelligence."

Toothless and Stryka were getting pretty excited now for their big introduction when Hiccup then read…

"I give you…_the Skrill._"

At that, they both gave me and Hiccup pouty and incredulous looks.

"Ooohh…Sorry, you two. You got bumped." GuardianDragon98 commented, which didn't really help matters.

"Don't pout, you two sillies. We're telling her about you two last because you two are the _best._ And the best is _best saved for last._" I told Toothless and Stryka, smiling.

That made them feel better and they proceeded to listen to Hiccup as he read from the Skrill section of the book.

"This elusive creature is highly secretive and is known to ride lightning bolts. Found only during electrical storms, it can shoot bursts of white fire." Hiccup read aloud as we all looked at the drawings of the Skrill flying through the thunderclouds, lightning sparking off its wings.

"If you get too close to a Skrill, your hair will stand on end." Hiccup told GuardianDragon98. "Literally." I added and she giggled.

"Let's see what else is in the book." Hiccup then turned to the still not yet updated Night Fury section of the Book of Dragons.

"The Night Fury. Speed, unknown. Size, unknown." Hiccup read aloud. "I guess this book really does need updating." Gobber commented.

"Yeah but at least you got rid of the '_Extremely dangerous_' and '_Kill on sight_' labels, right Zenna?" GuardianDragon98 looked at me. "Quite right you are. Now all Hicc and I gotta do is update _this _part of the book." I said, smiling as Hiccup and I gently scratched Toothless and Stryka behind their ears, making them purr contentedly.

"The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself." Hiccup read the Night Fury description. "That's technically a false description but, yes. When Toothless and Stryka get mad, they _can _be deadly." I pointed out.

"So Hiccup and Zenna, how do you train Night Furies?" Gobber asked me and Hiccup. "First we had to get their attention." I said before my best friend continued with, "Then we needed to earn their trust."

GuardianDragon98 looked at our two Night Furies in awe.

"Everyone wonders what it's like to fly. And now, thanks to Toothless and Stryka, we know." Hiccup told her.

"And let me tell you, once you've gone on your first flight, you'll want to keep going back up into the sky." I added.

"These islands are full of dragons. But Zenna and I've never seen another Night Fury." Hiccup said.

"_Never? _Not a single one?" GuardianDragon98 asked me, shocked.

"We've been all over Berk and so far, Toothless and Stryka have been the only Night Furies we've ever found." I told her.

"Both Zenna and I have so many questions about them." Hiccup said and I added, "So many questions that continue to evade answers as time goes by."

"But we do know one thing." Hiccup said, smiling at me and our dragons.

"Toothless and Stryka didn't just become our friends." I said.

And then, remembering how the two of us first bonded with our two Night Furies, Hiccup and I both said at the exact same time, "_They became the friends who gave us our purpose._"

Toothless and Stryka smiled at us both and nuzzled us when they heard that.

Toothless and Stryka love me and Hiccup. And Hiccup and I love them as well.

"Ah, they're quite the dragons, I'll grant you two that." Gobber smiled at us.

"Yeah! They're the coolest dragons in all of Berk _and _the most loyal!" GuardianDragon98 said in agreement before laughing when Toothless and Stryka started licking her face.

"So, now you see. Everything we know about dragons started with one very unfortunate Viking, who had a hunger to learn more. Over the years, curious Vikings like yourselves have updated the pages, and in time, '_Bork of Dragons_' became '_Book of Dragons_'. It's now a very big part about our Viking heritage. So big, that Bork, the Very, Very unfortunate was soon renamed _Bork the Bold._" Gobber said, proudly showing us a drawing of Bork (_who was covered in bandages from undoubtedly all the dragons who had attacked him as he was studying them and with his…girlfriend_) showing the Book of Dragons to some curious Viking children.

"I bet you wish you knew him." Astrid said to Gobber, knowing how special the Book of Dragons was to the blacksmith. "Well, I _do _know him. The fact is, we _all _know him. Thanks to the Book of Dragons." Gobber said proudly.

"And I guess one day new kids will know us by how we trained our dragons." Hiccup said. "And _I'm _one of those new kids!" GuardianDragon98 said cheerfully.

"Aye, that they will. But in the meantime, you kids can carry on where Bork left off." Gobber told me and Hiccup.

"That means we gotta go study the dragons we train even more, Hicc." I laughed. "Well then we'd better finish these Night Fury pages, Zen. There's still so much to learn." Hiccup grinned at me.

"Yeah! Like how fast Toothless and Stryka can go!" Fishlegs said excitedly. "Come to think of it, we've never tried to find out what their top flying speeds are…" I mused.

"Well, to be honest, Zenna and I don't know their top speeds, but…" Hiccup managed to say before Toothless and Stryka began bouncing and wiggling about excitedly. "Well, now they wanna know!" I laughed.

"Ouuuh…Somebody wants to find out, do they? Okay. Let's find out." Hiccup grinned and began to leave the Great Hall with Toothless.

"Last one to the peak has to clean the stables." Astrid was the next to dash followed by Fishlegs. "Hey, wait up! I gotta see this!" he called, running after them.

Stryka then began prodding me to go.

"You alright staying here to finish your lesson?" I asked GuardianDragon98 who nodded. "Yeah. Now you and Stryka get out there and find your top speed!" she encouraged us, giving me a thumbs-up.

Smiling, Stryka and I headed out.

But as I was about to head out the doors, I turned around and managed to see and hear Gobber say to my friend, "Ah…To be young, wild and have most of my limbs again." Making GuardianDragon98 laugh and say, "Looks like the new generations caught up with you, Gobber."

"Oh, right! Congratulations! Now you're on your way. Our newest Dragon Trainer. It's time to meet your first batch now." Gobber then placed a Viking helmet on GuardianDragon98's head, officially making her a Dragon Trainer.

"Alright! Rookie Dragon Trainer, GuardianDragon98 reporting for training!" my friend said with a salute.

"Haha! Good luck!" Gobber chuckled.

"I won't let you guys and the dragons down! I'll do my best! Dragon Training, _here I come!_" GuardianDragon98 beamed.

'_You're gonna go far, kid._' I smiled as Stryka and I left to catch up with Astrid, Fishlegs, Hiccup and Toothless.

It was time to find out how fast a Night Fury can go for the Night Fury pages of the Book of Dragons!

**-Zenna Fiersome**

**Hope you all enjoyed **

**Gift of the Night Fury will come soon.**

**See ya!**


	23. Gift of the Night Furies

**I am so sorry it took so long for me to post this :p**

**I know it's not Christmas but Happy Snoggletog :D**

**Gift of the Night Furies**

'_This is Berk, boasting the kind of balmy, fun-in-the-sun climate that will give you frostbite on your spleen. The one upside is our annual holiday._

_We call it Snoggletog._

_Why we chose such a stupid name remains a mystery. But with the war long over-and dragons living amongst us, this year's Snoggletog promises to be one to remember._'

With Berk having a really cold climate, especially during the Snoggletog season, I prefer to sleep in and enjoy my warm and cozy bed.

But now, I have a very insistent dragoness to always get me out of bed early in the morning almost every day-by jumping on the roof.

"Okay! Okay, Stryka I'm up!" I yawned as I got up, put on my eye patch, grabbed Elias' shield, my battle sticks and fixed my room up a bit before heading downstairs.

"Zenna dear, have Stryka get off the roof before she wrecks it now will you, love?" my dad, Edgar Fiersome, yawned from his and Mom's room.

"Don't worry, Dad. I'm on it." I called out as I walked over to the door.

"You two be careful now!" my mom, Henna Fiersome, called out to me.

"Got it!" I replied, going outside.

My loyal and most trusted best dragon friend, Stryka, was excitedly jumping on the roof as she waited for me to put on her saddle and eyepatch so we could go flying.

"Well, good morning Madame Bossy!" I greeted her, grinning. Stryka laughed her dragon laugh and I imitated her, making her laugh even more.

"Instead of risking ruining our roof, you can _always _just go to my room and nudge me awake whenever you wanna go flying." I told her. Stryka jumped down from the roof and let me put her eye patch on.

As I brushed my fingers across the old scar where Stryka's right eye used to be I sighed sadly. It's been a long while since Stryka and I had helped my best friend, Hiccup, and Stryka's mate, Toothless, defeat the Red Death and end the Dragon and Viking War…

It's also been a long while since Stryka and I both lost our right eyes. We've gotten used to being one-eyed but still…I just wished that _I _was the only one to lose an eye and not Stryka. She's just still so young! Too young to be losing body parts…Sometimes, I can't help but feel guilty whenever I see her scar…

Stryka must have noticed my sad face and crooned warmly at me.

"I'm fine, girl. I'm okay. We can go flying now." I said, smiling again when I saw how excited Stryka was to go flying.

Suddenly, Stryka went, "_Buuurrrppp!_" right in my face!

"Oh, Stryka! Gross!" I exclaimed, holding my nose while my dragon laughed again. "Tonight, that mouth and those teeth of yours shall be cleaned." I proclaimed, putting the saddle on her.

That's when I saw another Night Fury lift off from the ground near the house of Chief Stoick the Vast and his son (_and my best __human __friend_) Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.

"Let's get going, Stryka!" I said, strapping Elias' shield onto my back and got on the saddle. We took off into the bracing air and joined the boys. Hiccup was wearing his special helmet (_made from half of his mother's breastplate_) and making sure that Toothless' tail fin was working properly. Upon seeing me and Stryka, he smiled.

"Good morning, Hiccup! Good morning, Toothless!" I greeted them both while Stryka warbled a greeting to Toothless which he happily returned.

"Morning, Zenna. You up for trying out some new tricks?" Hiccup smiled coyly, knowing that I would always be up for anything with him and Toothless. "You bet Thor's hammer I am, Hicc!" I grinned.

With that cheery note, we headed out.

I'll tell you one thing: There's nothing like flying on a dragon to wake you up in the morning!

"Catch us if you can, Haddock!" I jeered as Stryka sped up and we shot ahead. Not wanting to lose to his mate, Toothless flapped his wings harder while Hiccup opened the tail fin to its fullest so they could speed up. We raced around the island for a little while, laughing and shrieking with joy.

Flying is just so much fun!

"Come on, let's see what you've got today!" Hiccup said to Toothless, the both of them ready to try new tricks.

"Time for some tricks, girl!" I said gamely to Stryka.

We flew over to one of our favorite flying spots where there were several rock cliffs and formations.

As we approached one of the cliffs, I looked over to Hiccup and said, "I know what you're gonna do, Hicc. Just please, _please _be careful!"

Hiccup gave me a thumbs-up and got ready.

"Okay, you ready?" he asked Toothless who looked a little nervous as Hiccup unhooked his metal prosthetic.

"Easy…" Hiccup then stood on Toothless' back as we got closer. "Here it comes!" I warned as we approached the cliff.

Hiccup braced himself…and jumped over it! For a moment, he was airborne while the three of us went under. Finally, he landed back on Toothless and hooked his left leg back in the stirrup. Thankfully, he still had his precious helmet on.

"Yes, finally!" he whooped triumphantly.

"I'd give it a nine-and-a-half." I remarked.

"Why nine-and-a-half?" Hiccup asked me, bewildered.

"You were kind of shaky during the landing. Anyways, my turn." I replied, cracking my knuckles and made sure that my brother's shield was still strapped on.

"Don't get yourself killed." My friend teased me. "With Snoggletog here, I don't plan to." I smirked before I slid off of Stryka and began to freefall.

"Yaaa-hoohoohooo!" I hollered as Stryka flew down after me.

Then just as I was nearing the sea, I put my arms up then Stryka grabbed my hands and tossed me back up. I did a mid-air somersault before safely landing on my Night Fury's back.

"Success!" I cheered as we joined Hiccup and Toothless back up in higher altitude.

"What's the judges' score?" I asked Hiccup.

He and Toothless looked at each other as if they were debating on their decision. After about a minute, they nodded and Hiccup said, "Nine-and-a-half."

Stryka and I rolled our eyes. In our opinion, we deserved a ten.

We flew about a little while longer in order to just enjoy the cool, rushing breeze.

"With the war now over, this is _definitely _going to be the best Snoggletog ever! I can't wait to spend the holidays with Toothless…" Hiccup sighed contentedly as he patted his best dragon friend's head.

"You said it, Hiccup. By the way, _why _do you guys call your winter holiday _Snoggletog _again?" I asked him.

"I have no idea, Zen. What about your old home in the South? What do they call Snoggletog back there?" Hiccup answered, adjusting his helmet.

"Something called…Christmas, I think? I can't really remember…My family just called it _The Winter Holiday_." I shrugged.

After a while, Hiccup, Toothless, Stryka and I were ready for another round of tricks.

"What do you say, bud? Wanna go again?" Hiccup asked Toothless who looked ready for more. "Wanna try some more tricks, girl?" I asked Stryka and she eagerly nodded.

We decided to fly a bit closer to Berk. But then all of a sudden, a large flock of dragons suddenly flew into us!

"Whoa!" "What the…?!" Hiccup and I were stunned to see all the dragons on Berk flying off to Thor knows where.

There were so many of them, we were like getting swarmed!

"Aaaaahhh!" "Oh, Holy Shields!" Hiccup and I screamed, already beginning to panic.

Then two dragons flew past us, barely missing colliding with our Night Furies. One dragon accidentally knocked Hiccup's helmet off his head while another accidentally broke the straps on my shield and it fell off my back!

"Oh no! My helmet!" Hiccup shouted in alarm.

"Oh man! Eli's shield!" I screamed in horror.

Our precious family heirlooms fell down, down, down until they were out of sight. Hiccup and I barely had any time to think of what to do next when Toothless and Stryka began to dive after the helmet and shield!

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh…!" Hiccup and I both screamed.

But we still noticed the large horde of dragons flying away and we both knew we had to find out what was going on.

"Toothless! No, no, no, no! Whoa…Wait! Toothless! Stop!" Hiccup hollered as we neared the sea. "Hold it, Stryka! Hold on a minute! Stop!" I hurriedly told Stryka.

Our Night Furies stopped diving and looked at us, confused.

"We'll get it later, bud. We need to get back and find out what's going on." Hiccup told Toothless.

"Let's head back to Berk, girl. We can get my shield later." I said to Stryka before the four of us turned around and headed back home.

By the time we got back to Berk, almost all of the dragons had taken off up into the sky. I saw Stormfly, Astrid's Deadly Nadder, flying away and heard Astrid pleading with her not to go.

"No, no, no! Don't leave, Stormfly, don't go! Please!" Astrid's plea seemed to fall on deaf ears as Stormfly left.

"Astrid!" Hiccup yelled as we came in for a landing.

"Hiccup, Zenna! What's going on? Where are they going?" Astrid asked us worriedly.

Hiccup and I were just about to ask her the same question when all of a sudden, a crowd of Vikings surrounded us and bombarded us both with questions.

"Why did they leave?" One Viking demanded.

"What's happening?" another joined in.

"What if they never come back?" another Viking chimed in.

"Stop! Please!"

"One question at a time!"

Hiccup and I gave each other worried looks. We didn't know why the dragons left as well and really wanted to know too.

The problem is we _don't _know!

Finally, Stoick and my parents pushed to the crowd over to our sides.

"Calm down! Give them a chance to speak!" Stoick said in an authoritative tone before looking at me and Hiccup seriously.

"Hiccup, Zenna, where are all our dragons going?" he asked us.

I helplessly shrugged.

"Dad…I don't know." Hiccup admitted.

Sighing, Stoick turned to the crowd and announced that there would be a meeting in the Great Hall tonight. As the crowd dispersed, Hiccup and I looked out to sea where we could see all the dragons flying away.

That's when we saw Stormfly hovering near the cliff Toothless and Stryka were standing on.

"I think Stormfly is inviting them to join her and the other dragons." My father guessed.

"It certainly seems that way. But…they're not joining her." My mother observed.

True enough, Stormfly, Toothless and Stryka seemed to be in a conversation, exchanging warbles and croons.

In the end, Toothless and Stryka stayed behind while Stormfly flew off.

'_Toothless can't go because he can't fly…And Stryka can't go because she doesn't want to leave him…_' I realized.

When I looked at Hiccup, I could tell he had realized this as well because he looked incredibly guilty.

"Hiccup, you okay?" Astrid asked him softly. Hiccup sighed and nodded.

But I knew my best friend, Hiccup. I knew that he wasn't okay.

I went over to Hiccup and gently squeezed his hand. Hiccup glanced at me and gave me a grateful smile.

"Let's get the village rounded up for the meeting." He said firmly.

Astrid and I nodded and the three of us went to round up the villagers.

Later that night, the whole village was gathered in the Great Hall for the meeting. The meeting's agenda: The sudden leaving of the dragons close to Snoggletog. I sat down with Hiccup, Astrid and the rest of the Viking teens, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and listened to the Vikings' worried chatter.

"Where'd they go…?"

"Snoggletog is ruined!"

The more they chattered about the dragons, the more the seven of us got worried.

Why did the dragons leave Berk?

Wheredid they all fly off to?

Are they okay?

Will they come back?

Our thoughts were then interrupted by Stoick's booming shout.

"_It's __not__ ruined!_"

We all saw Hiccup's dad stand up on the stone table in the center of the Great Hall and looked at all of us.

"We're _Vikings! _We've been perfectly happy celebrating without dragons for generations! And there's no reason we can't do it again! Now we don't know where they've gone off to. But we have to have faith that they'll be back again soon. Am I right?" he said to all of us.

Everyone else murmured their agreements but we were all still pretty down.

"You're right, we are Vikings! We are tough!" Gobber proclaimed, making us all turn to look at him wearing the silliest looking Snoggletog outfit (_which was composed of antlers, baubles and a bell-adorned prosthetic arm_) I had ever seen.

I swear all of us were giving Gobber bland looks while trying not to laugh at his ridiculous getup.

"...Most of the time." The rugged blacksmith added sheepishly upon noticing our stares.

Finally, me and my friends decided to just leave.

"Let's sing some Snoggletog songs!" Gobber called out.

"Run for it before he sings!" Snotlout yelped.

Knowing how terrible Gobber's singing is, we all ran like the wind before we could hear a single note from him. Once we were at a safe distance, we just walked aimlessly to the plaza.

"That was depressing…" Ruffnut sighed.

"It would've also been torturous if we had to stay in the Great Hall with Gobber." I remarked, hoping to somewhat lighten the mood but to no avail.

"I know! I was looking forward to spending the holiday with Stromfly." Astrid said, sheer disappointment clearly written on her face.

I was about to agree with her when I heard Fishlegs…_whistling?_

My eye darted to the husky blond Viking. Instead of bawling his eyes out over Meatlug leaving with the other dragons, Fishlegs was whistling and didn't look sad at all!

"What are you so happy about? Don't you miss Meatlug?" Tuffnut scowled, voicing the exact same thought I had in mind.

Fishlegs appeared somewhat startled but managed to react.

"Me? Oh! Yeah!" he stuttered before clearing his throat and whimpered, "I miss him so much!"

Hiccup and I shared a glance and sighed.

We haven't really told the others, but a couple of days before Hiccup woke up from his coma, I had identified Fishlegs' Gronckle, Meatlug, as a _girl._

When Hiccup woke up, I told him of my findings and we both decided to see if the others could figure out their dragons' genders correctly.

And so far, Fishlegs was the only one who hadn't correctly identified his dragon's gender.

Astrid's Deadly Nadder, Stormfly, is a girl.

Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, is a boy.

The Twins' Hideous Zippleback, Barf and Belch…while it was somewhat tricky considering that they had two heads, we soon found out that they were both boys.

And Meatlug is a girl which Fishlegs still didn't know. And neither did the other teens except for me and Hiccup.

Anyway Fishlegs then said, "Well, good night!" and went back to his house…in quite a hurry in fact.

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. Fishlegs didn't look too sad…that's a bit strange…

"That was slightly out of character." I remarked.

Then Astrid piped up with, "I've got an idea! Let's come up with a bunch of new holiday traditions! You know? To bury the sadness!"

While Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout groaned, Hiccup and I looked at Astrid expectantly, the both of us agreeing with her proposal. Some new holiday traditions could help keep the Snoggletog spirit alive this year!

"Actually Astrid might be on to something." Hiccup said in agreement to the tough Viking beauty.

"Some new Snoggletog traditions would definitely help uplift the mood this year." I joined on.

Tuffnut rolled his eyes at us. "Easy for you two to say." He scoffed before looking at Hiccup.

"_Your _dragon can't go anywhere without you! And thanks to that…" he then turned to me and said, "_Her _dragon can't go anywhere either."

Hiccup and I then looked around until we spotted our two Night Furies standing on a cliff ledge, looking out into the horizon.

They both looked like they wanted to go too…

"Must be nice…" Ruffnut muttered before she and the others left, leaving me and Hiccup in the plaza.

"Aw, who am I kidding…? Tuffnut's right!" Hiccup sighed, his shoulders slumping forward.

And to add to my friend's misery, when he took a single step with his metal leg he slipped. Good thing I was there to catch him before his head hit the ground.

"Oh, come on! Stupid leg! I should just get rid of this hunk of junk!" Hiccup screamed in outrage. It was a good thing everyone else was still in the Great Hall so they couldn't hear him as he spat out some choice words.

"Relax, Hiccup…And didn't you say that you'd make a couple of tweaks to it?" I chided him, tapping his prosthetic with one of my battle sticks.

"I know, Zenna…It's just that…well Tuff's right. Ever since I shot down Toothless, the only way he can fly is when I'm on him. And Stryka, being such a loyal mate, she can't really leave him on his own." Hiccup admitted, running a hand through his auburn hair in frustration.

"Does Toothless _know _you're the one who shot him out of the sky?" I decided to ask him.

Hiccup nodded.

"Has he shown any signs of anger or resentment towards you for that?" I asked him again.

Hiccup thought about it for a moment before shaking his head.

"Then there's no reason for you to feel bad." I concluded before glancing at Stryka again.

Seeing her eye patch, I sighed, "At least _you _still have a chance to fix Toothless' tail. If I could only have _one _Snoggletog gift from Odin this year, it'd be a new eye for Stryka…"

Hiccup looked at me, surprised.

"Have you been feeling this bad about this the whole time, Zen?" he asked me.

I nodded. "I'd give anything to give Stryka her eye back, Hicc. With just one eye, she could have a hard time seeing and even flying! And if she becomes blind…" I trailed off, unable to think of the horrifying ordeals Stryka could possibly go through if she ever lost her sight.

It was all too scary to think of…

Hiccup sensed my distress and gave me one of his rare hugs.

"Thanks man…" I said gratefully as we pulled away.

Hiccup smiled. Suddenly, his bright emerald green eyes lit up. I immediately took notice and smiled.

"I sense an idea. What've you got?" I asked curiously.

"Remember those design plans for Toothless' tail I asked you to keep?" Hiccup asked me.

"Yeah, they're still in my room." I replied.

"Take them and bring them over to the forge! I'll meet you there!" Hiccup then took off running in the direction to the forge.

I quickly sprinted to my house and headed up to my room.

"Design plans…Design plans…" I muttered as I went through my things to look for the sheets of parchment where Hiccup had drawn and written all the plans for Toothless' prosthetic left tail fin.

Finally, I found the plans wedged behind my family's portrait shield (_I hid them there the night after Hiccup and I made the tailfin_). Taking them with me to the forge, I found Hiccup starting a fire in the forge's fire pit.

"Are you making a new tail fin?" I asked Hiccup.

Nodding, Hiccup got all the materials ready. "This tail fin is going to be different, Zen. If I do this right, Toothless will be able to fly-_on his own._" He told me as he stoked the flames by pumping on the bellows.

My eye widened in amazement.

"Hiccup, that's great!" I said in awe, smiling at him.

Hiccup grinned back and continued pumping the bellows to get the flames hotter.

"I'll go get us some provisions. We might be here all night and I gotta tell Mom and Dad." I told him. "Alright, can you also give my dad the heads-up? I don't want him to get worried." Hiccup replied.

"Okay!" I then left the forge and headed back home. I grabbed some bread, fruit and two canteens of water along with my satchel before leaving the house again. On my way back to the forge, I caught sight of Stoick talking to my parents.

"Mom! Dad! Chief! Perfect timing!" I greeted them as they came my way.

"Good evening, Zenna. What's got you in such a rush?" Stoick asked me. "Hiccup and I are gonna be making a new project in the forge. We might be there all night. Is it okay with you three if we can stay at the forge overnight?" I asked politely.

My parents and Stoick looked at each other, a little bit uncertain.

But finally, my Dad nodded. "Alright, Zen. You have my permission." He said. "As long as you two are careful, it's fine by me." My Mom agreed.

I then turned to Stoick. "I don't see any problem with that. Just make sure you and Hiccup don't exhaust yourselves." He said in agreement.

"Thank you!" I thanked them and ran back to the forge.

"Good news! Our parents are okay with us camping in here tonight!" I hollered to Hiccup.

He nodded and then turned to the design plans.

"Uh-huh…Yep…make an adjustment here…and maybe there…" he mumbled, drawing up new plans on a blank sheet of parchment.

Since he was so engrossed with the planning, I decided to keep watch over the fire pit in case the flames got too hot _and _work on my gifts for Stryka.

I took my sewing kit, the eye patch I had made with Gobber's help two weeks earlier and the scarf I had practically slaved over knitting for the past two months out of my satchel. All they needed now was some designs to be embroidered on them.

So while Hiccup drew up the plans for Toothless' new tail fin, I kept an eye on the fire while I stitched in the designs. By the time Hiccup was done with the plans, the fire was hot enough and I had finished the designs on Stryka's gifts.

"Alright, Zen. Let's see if we can make this." Hiccup then turned around to see me holding up the eye patch and scarf.

"Wow! Those are beautiful! Are they for Stryka?" he said admiringly. "Yup." I beamed.

I had stitched a violet Night Fury emblem onto the black leather eye patch while on the violet wool scarf, I embroidered black Night Fury designs. I admired my work for a few minutes before carefully putting them back in my satchel.

"Looks like the fire's hot enough, Hicc. Let's get started." I chirped, rubbing my hands together.

Throughout the entire night, Hiccup and I worked on the tail fin. What really made this tail fin different from Toothless' current one was that it had gears and screws that moved on their own and didn't need a stirrup to open it. It was fully automatic and could open, close and angle itself with simple movements such as a flick of a dragon's tail.

By the time we finished, the sun was already up but luckily Hiccup and I still had plenty of energy.

"I think Toothless will be _very _happy with his present." I grinned, imagining how happy Stryka's loveable mate would be.

Suddenly we heard Astrid calling out, "Hiccup? Zenna?"

"Here in the forge, Astrid!" I called back.

"Yeah, we're over here, Astrid! Coming!" Hiccup called as well.

We got out of the forge and were greeted by Astrid who was holding a tray of mugs and a big tankard full of drink.

"What's that you got there?" I eyed the tankard curiously. "_Yaknog._ It's a new holiday drink I came up with." Astrid smiled, pouring us two mugs.

"Here. Happy holidays from me to you." She said, handing them over to us. "Thank you milady!" Hiccup grinned, taking his mug while I chuckled a bit.

_Milady…_

Hiccup's been calling Astrid that for a while now. It's actually kind of adorable.

"What are you two up to?" Astrid asked us.

"Okay you're gonna think I'm crazy, but I just couldn't stop thinking about what Tuffnut said last night. Toothless can't come and go like the other dragons." Hiccup started.

"And with her mate unable to fly on his own, Stryka can't join the other dragons as well." I added.

Hiccup nodded. "And that's just not fair." He finished and showed Astrid the new tailfin, checking to make sure it was in good condition.

"Zenna and I were up all night and I think we found a way to fix that." He explained. "It's a tail fin that Toothless can control on his own." I said before Hiccup clanked our mugs in a toast and both took a swig of Astrid's Yaknog.

Oh, Odin how I wish I hadn't taken a sip of the stuff.

The Yaknog tasted awful! Even _worse _than the regurgitated fish tail Stryka shared with me when we first bonded!

I glanced at Hiccup who also looked like he was hating the Yaknog too but kept his mouth shut while trying not to swallow or throw up.

Obviously so as not to offend Astrid who, if you offended, will probably kill you with her axe.

"No way! You built him a new tail? So he's gonna be able to fly without you?" Astrid asked Hiccup in amazement.

"Hmhm!" Hiccup mumbled back.

While Astrid examined the tail and carried on with praising Hiccup, I snuck over to one corner of the forge. I grabbed a bucket, spat out all the Yaknog in my mouth and emptied the remaining contents of my mug into it. Then I went out the back door and threw the bucket's contents out before going back into the forge.

I got back in time to see Astrid leaving the forge with her tray of vile Yaknog. As soon as she was out of sight and earshot, my best friend immediately yakked the Yaknog (_see what I did there?_) out of his mouth.

"Baaaaahhhhh!" Hiccup grimaced.

"Something tells me that when you and Astrid get married, _you'll _be in charge of the cooking." I remarked while trying to wash the taste of Astrid's horrible concoction with some water from my canteen.

After I had washed my mouth out the best I could, I looked at Hiccup and said, "Let's go give our gifts to our Night Furies then."

But then I noticed that Hiccup looked somewhat troubled.

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"It's just that…Astrid said something a while ago about Toothless not coming back once he can fly on his own…but that won't happen…_right?_" Hiccup said uncertainly.

I was a bit uncertain myself but managed to reply with, "I highly doubt Toothless will leave you forever, Hicc. You're his best friend in the whole world."

Hiccup still seemed a little unsure but nodded before we left the forge and went back to our houses. I found Stryka once again jumping on the roof.

"Oh, Stryka…" I sighed, shaking my head.

Luckily there was a basket of fish outside my house. I grabbed a salmon to lure my cheeky Night Fury off the roof.

"Stryka dear, I'll give you this big, tasty salmon if you get off of there." I said in an enticing tone, wriggling the fish up in the air.

Stryka didn't seem interested and kept on jumping with a devious gummy grin on her face.

"Okay, _two _salmons. That and my Snoggletog gift_s _for you." I offered upon noticing that the roof boards were beginning to creak loudly.

Finally, much to my relief, Stryka jumped off the roof.

"Thank you for not wrecking our roof…" I sighed in relief, giving her the first salmon before grabbing another one from the fish basket and gave it to her.

Once Stryka ate the fish she then nuzzled me, cooing for the gifts.

"Alright, alright…" I laughed and, with a grand flourish, brought out the eye patch and scarf from my satchel.

"_Ta-da!_" I said grandly.

Stryka looked at the two gifts first, sniffed them next, curiously looked at them again and then crooned and warbled happily.

"I _knew _you'd love them!" I exclaimed excitedly.

As I put the eye patch on Stryka, she sadly crooned and reached up with her right front paw to touch my eye patch.

"I know, girl…But you know, I'd rather have one eye while you have two…I'm sorry I can't give you a new eye, Stryka…" I apologized and after wrapping the scarf around her neck I whispered, "_…I would if I could…_"

Suddenly, Stryka stood up on her hind legs!

"Stryka! What're you…?!" I managed to yelp before my dragon wrapped her front arms around me and pulled me to her chest. It took me a moment to realize that she was hugging me.

"…_Iaaii…llwwrooovvvee…ywoouuu…Zzzzeeennnnrraaa…_"

I swear my eye could have popped out of its socket when I heard those garbled words coming from Stryka's mouth.

How long had Stryka been trying her luck at human speech?

When Stryka said, "_I lwrove ywou, Zenwa._" Again with more clarity, I guessed that she must've been practicing for a long while.

"Oh, Stryka…I…I love you too…!" I replied, hugging her back. Stryka warbled at me and said, "_I lwrove ywou, Zenwa._"

"How…How long have you been trying to talk? When did you start?" I asked her curiously, my eye wide in amazement as I let her get back on all fours.

"_Evwer siwnce I mwet ywou awnd Hicc-up._" Stryka rumbled before looking kind of sheepish and added, "_I stwill nweed mwore prwactiwssee…_"

"You'll get the hang of it soon, Stryka." I laughed. This was just so cool! Stryka and I are actually having a conversation!

Before I could say another word, I heard a roar coming from Hiccup's place. Stryka and I then saw Toothless fly off.

Without Hiccup.

"Well what do you know? Thor Almighty, the tail works!" I exclaimed.

I smiled and turned to Stryka.

"Alright, girl you're free to…"

Before I could even finish my sentence, Stryka shot up into the air, her violet scarf flapping in the wind as she joined Toothless and together they just…left.

"…_go_…" I got the last word of my sentence out but Stryka and Toothless were already gone…

Later in the evening, Hiccup and I were hanging out in the plaza.

"It was great, Hiccup! Ever since we met, Stryka had actually been trying to _talk!_ And she _did!_ She actually _spoke _to me before she…" I gushed before remembering Stryka leaving without so much as a good-bye and trailed off.

"…left?" Hiccup finished my sentence for me and, noticing that I was kind of sad, comfortingly patted my shoulder.

"She didn't even say good-bye…" I said sulkily. "Well, neither did Toothless…But at least the tail works." Hiccup said brightly.

"Yeah…And hey, they're with the other dragons now and they'll come back soon, right?" I said, deciding to look on the bright side of things.

"Right! And like my Dad said, we should have faith that they'll return soon." Hiccup grinned at me. "Agreed!" I nodded before we said good night to each other and went back to our houses for some shut-eye.

The next day…and the next…_and _the next, Hiccup and I tried to go about our usual routines along with everyone else.

But since most of our usual routines' schedules revolved around being with our dragons…it was a lot harder than it looked.

On top of that, the two of us _still _hadn't found Hiccup's helmet and Elias' shield. We'd go out to sea, hoping that the two precious items would somehow float by our boat or get caught in the fishing net we'd bring with us so we could retrieve them and return before anyone could take note of our absence…only to come back empty handed.

On the third night ever since Toothless and Stryka left, I looked out my window and gazed up at the stars.

"Please come back soon, Stryka…" I prayed hopefully to the gods.

Then with one glance at my family's portrait, I got into bed and slept.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of banging on the ceiling.

Which meant…

"_Stryka!_" I bolted right out of bed and dashed downstairs (_without putting on my eye patch_), relieved.

Stryka's come home!

I got out of the house, my heart doing a happy dance in my chest.

"Stryka, I just _knew _you'd come back! You have no idea how…_gyah!_" I suddenly slipped on some ice and fell flat on my back.

When I looked up at my house's roof, instead of my best dragon friend jumping up and down on the roof, my parents were hammering in some reinforcement boards onto it.

"Morning, love!" my Mom greeted me cheerfully. "Morning, Mom…Morning, Dad…" I mumbled, my heart now sinking instead of dancing.

"Zenna, you're not wearing your eye patch. You better put it on before the frost decides to bite at your scar." My Dad advised, finishing hammering in the last board and climbed down with Mom.

"Yeah, I'll go get it…" I mumbled, trying not to look too gloomy.

But my parents were experts at reading my face and could see how down I was.

"We know that face, Zenna. What's troubling you?" my Mom said knowingly, tapping her finger under my chin.

"It's just that…I don't know…" I sighed, not really wanting to talk. "Come on, love. Out with it." My Dad pressed on.

Finally I decided to confess.

"It's been three days since Stryka left, Mom and Dad. I just thought she'd be back by now…" I said sadly.

"Well I'm sure she's with Toothless and all the other dragons." My Dad said soothingly.

"You think so? I wish I can be sure…" I sighed.

Mom then gently brushed a hand on my right cheek. "I know you miss Stryka, dear. And with the holidays here, I know you really want her to be with us. But we've had this conversation before when we had our first Snoggletog without Elias, remember? And we still celebrated Snoggletog the best we could because…?" Mom let that last part dangle in the air before I came up with a reply.

"Elias would've wanted us to celebrate him and keep the spirit of the holidays alive?" I shrugged.

"Exactly. I'm sure Elias would still want you to do that this year and so would Stryka. You understand, love?" my mother smiled warmly at me.

I guess my mother had a point.

Elias had always loved the holidays and always did what he could to really make Snoggletog special-especially for me and Hiccup. We'd have snowball fights, go sledding, ice fishing (_although not for long because we usually left our fishing rods to go troll hunting_) and we'd bake cookies in our kitchen to share amongst us.

The three of us always had a lot of fun during the holidays…

When Elias died it was really hard but Hiccup and I still kept up with our special Snoggletog traditions.

Elias would still want us to be happy this year so I had to agree with Mom.

"I guess you're right." I admitted. "That's our girl. Now run along and have fun with your friends." My Dad chuckled.

I smiled a bit and began to leave when my Mom suddenly asked me a question that made me freeze in my tracks.

"By the way Zen, I haven't seen your shield lately. Where is it?" she asked me. "I took it to the forge for a…fresh coat of paint! Yeah, uh, the color was starting to fade in some places. But it should be freshly painted now." I fibbed and hoped that my parents would take the bait.

Luckily they did and I got off scot-free. I left the house and decided to see if Hiccup was free to do some sledding. I found him walking around in the plaza carrying two oars.

"My Dad told me to get my helmet ready for Odin. Last chance to get it back is _today._" He groaned, looking rather dejected.

"Mind if I join you? I had to lie to my parents about taking my shield to the forge for a new paint job so they wouldn't have a fit." I explained. "Well, help me carry one of these then." Hiccup shrugged, slightly staggering under the oars' weight.

I had just taken one oar off of Hiccup's shoulders when Fishlegs bumped into us, carrying a large basket full of fish.

"Oh hey, 'Legs! Just got back from the docks now, did you?" I greeted him while eyeing the unusually large amount of fish he had with him.

Now why would such a big and already healthy guy like Fishlegs want so much fish? _Surely _he wasn't going to eat them all now, was he?

Apparently Hiccup was the same thing because he remarked, "Oh, Fishlegs! You're hungry? There's enough fish there to feed a dragon!"

Fishlegs then started to laugh. "Hahaha…Oh…a dragon! That's…" and with that, he just hurriedly rushed past us.

I looked to Hiccup, my head cocked to one side.

"Is it just me or has Fishlegs been acting _very _strange for the past few days?" Hiccup questioned me. "It's not just you having suspicions, man. I have a feeling he's hiding something." I replied, my gaze following husky Ingerman's form as it headed for a barn.

"Let's follow him and see what he's up to!" I suggested, my hunger for mystery waiting to be satisfied.

"But what about our stuff?" Hiccup protested. "We can do it later. Come on!" I said, dropping my oar and grabbing Hiccup's hand to pull him along with me.

We quickly but quietly went over to the barn and saw Fishlegs go inside. A couple of seconds later, he emerged without the basket of fish and went on his way.

"Time to do some snooping and sneaking." I said gleefully. "Zen, I don't think we should do this…" Hiccup complained but decided to help me open the doors.

What we saw in there was something we weren't expecting to see.

A chained-up Gronckle who looked a lot like…

I was about to say something when the chain holding the Gronckle fast to the floor snapped and it flew straight into me and Hiccup and flew out of the barn-with us still on it!

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh…!" Hiccup and I screamed, hanging onto the Gronckle for dear life who turned out to be…

"_Meatlug?!_" the two of us both exclaimed in shock.

_This _was what Fishlegs was hiding?

His _dragon?!_

Meatlug then buzzed off, taking us with her. We flew past Astrid, who looked pretty shocked.

"Hiccup? Zenna? Where are you two going?" she hollered to us as we began to fly further away.

"We have no ideaaaaa!" Hiccup and I hollered back before we were soon taken farther away from Berk as Meatlug continued flying off to Thor knows where…

"I can't believe Ingerman chained her up so she couldn't go with the other dragons! Why, when I get my hands on him I'll…_yipes!_" I managed to rant before Meatlug suddenly had to do a sharp maneuver in order to avoid a rock pillar as we flew into a foggy part of the sea.

"Well…you know what I mean." I told Hiccup who was seated in front of me on Meatlug's back.

We'd been flying for a while now and we still had yet to reach our destination…wherever our destination was anyway…

"Whoa!" Hiccup yelped as Meatlug narrowly avoided a rotting figurehead of an abandoned long ship resting amongst some rocks.

"Meatlug, where are you taking us?" Hiccup questioned the Gronckle. Meatlug just growled and flew on.

Then after a few more minutes…we arrived at our destination-an island with a large pool of crystal clear blue water encircled by the rocky spires around the island. When we landed, Hiccup and I got off of Meatlug and saw that all the dragons from Berk were here!

"So _this _is where they went!" I exclaimed before noticing along with Hiccup that there were nests full of dragon eggs and dragon hatchlings all over the place!

The dragons left in order to lay their eggs. _Our _holiday season is _their _breeding season!

"You guys come here to have babies…" Hiccup said in awe as hatchlings scurried about.

"Really _cute _babies!" I was immediately overcome by cuteness overload, especially when a pair of baby Nadders toddled over to me nipped at the fur of my boots.

"Aww…Aren't you cutie pies so precious?!" I cooed, sitting down on the ground and let them crawl into my lap and ravage me with their licking.

"Oh, who's a good baby dragon? You are! Yes, you are!" I was putty in the baby dragons' paws.

In fact, I was so enamored with the babies, Hiccup had to tap me on the head to get my attention.

"Are you gonna stay there and play nursemaid or are you gonna help me look for Toothless, Stryka and possibly, their _babies?_" he asked me.

At the mention of baby Night Furies, I gently shooed the Nadder hatchlings away and stood up. "Let's get going then." I said seriously, while trying to hide my excitement of seeing Toothless and Stryka's hatchlings.

"You were _fawning _over them, Zen!" Hiccup laughed before I poked him in the ribs with one of my sticks. "Well can you blame me, Hicc? These hatchlings are _adorable!_" I admitted.

Yes, I have a soft spot for cute, little things. I'm not made of stone, just so you know.

Hiccup and I proceeded to explore the island whilst looking for our Night Furies. We also discovered that every dragon egg was as unique as its species.

Gronckle eggs are big enough to be held in someone's hands and have pearly white and blue bumps on the shell.

Deadly Nadder eggs, much like the dragon itself, have sharp spikes.

Monstrous Nightmare eggs, surprisingly like the species, are flaming up in their nests.

And Terrible Terror eggs are the size of chickens, which is surprising considering how small Terrors are.

"Different dragons; different egg types…" I mumbled as we walked around, careful not to step on any eggs or hatchlings by accident.

Hiccup and I then saw a Gronckle mother push her eggs into a small pool of water. A few seconds later, baby Gronckles swam out and crawled over to their mother.

"That's interesting." I remarked.

Hiccup then noticed that one egg hadn't been pushed in.

"Hey, look over here…" he walked over to the egg and called to the mother Gronckle, "Hey, you missed one!"

That's when I noticed the glowing red cracks forming on the shell.

"Uh…Hiccup…" I warned him.

Suddenly the egg exploded with a _boom!_

"WHOA!" I watched as Hiccup was thrown backwards due to the force and landed flat on his back.

"Oh gods, are you okay?!" I cried, rushing to his side. "Man, it's a good thing those don't hatch on Berk!" Hiccup said as he sat up, thankfully not harmed in any way.

Suddenly a somewhat troubling thought popped into my head.

"Hey, Hiccup…You don't think Meatlug laid her eggs in the barn where we found her, do you?" I asked nervously. Hiccup thought about it carefully for a few minutes and then gave me a slightly worried look.

"Yeah, forget I said anything." I decided to drop the subject but I had the nagging feeling that something was happening back on Berk.

We went back to wandering around the island, looking for Toothless and Stryka. Hiccup and I searched carefully, calling out their names (_and at one point I decided to assume that our two Night Furies had babies as well and started calling out, __**"Here, cute little baby Night Furies!"**__ which made Hiccup look at me like I was crazy and also kind of made me look like an idiot_) only to receive no answers.

"Toothless! Toothless? Ah, Toothless, where are you?" Hiccup called out, looking even more disappointed as no loyal Night Fury came bounding over.

"Stryka! Are you here, girl?" I said loudly only to get the same thing.

"They're not here. Oh, Zen where are they…?" Hiccup moaned miserably. "Maybe Night Furies go to a different island for their breeding season. They don't usually go out in the open, right?" I guessed.

But considering the fact that Toothless and Stryka are the only Night Furies Hiccup and I have ever known and seen, we barely scratched the surface on information about their kind so my guess was liable to further judgement.

After a short while, we spotted two familiar dragons with their brood of hatchlings.

"Isn't that…?" I began to say before Hiccup ran over to the two dragons, a male Monstrous Nightmare and a female Deadly Nadder.

"Hookfang! Stormfly! Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to see you guys!" Hiccup said as he petted them. "And you two have quite a brood of little ones here." I complimented, picking up one of Hookfang's babies and cradled it in my arms as it cooed at me.

"And you have…Babies?" Hiccup laughed as Stormfly's hatchlings went over to him.

"Oh, look at you guys! All happy, together…" Hiccup smiled as he petted them. "This must be their version of Snoggletog, Hiccup." I said, putting Hookfang's hatchling down so it could play with the other hatchlings.

"Who knew you were leaving to celebrate your own holiday…" Hiccup said thoughtfully. "Yeah…" I said in agreement.

Hiccup then turned to me. "We should get back to our own holiday, Zen." He told me. "Alright then. Let's let the dragons stay here until they're all settled and we can go get them after the celebration." I nodded.

Hiccup then went over to Hookfang and gently petted him. "So what do you say there, Hookfang? Think you could give us a ride home?" he asked nicely.

Hookfang growled a response, which we took as our cue to get on his back.

"Have fun and take care, guys!" I chirped to the dragons and their babies.

"We'll see you all back on Berk when you're good and ready, okay gang?" Hiccup then urged Hookfang to take off.

But when we were airborne, I noticed that…

"Um, Hiccup...I think the dragons are following us." I pointed to the mass of dragons flying after us with the hatchlings close behind on the ground.

"Oh…No, no…no, no, no…I think we just started the return migration…" Hiccup mumbled. "Whoops…" I chuckled.

Oh, well. Might as well let the dragons come back to Berk with us.

"Well, if you insist!" Hiccup shrugged, seeing how eager the hatchlings were as they ran toward the cliff for take-off.

"That's it, little one! You can do it!" I cheered them on as they prepared to join their parents in the air.

But as the hatchlings launched themselves upward, the wind blew them backwards!

"Come on! Come on!" Hiccup called out encouragingly.

But the baby dragons couldn't withstand the sheer wind force and were blown right back to the ground.

"What do we do now?" I asked Hiccup. "Ah…boy this is never gonna work…" Hiccup muttered before his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Oh, hold on I've got just the thing!" With those words, Hiccup urged Hookfang to fly away from the island, the adult dragons following us.

"Hiccup, what're you up to? We can't just leave the baby dragons on their own." I said, confused.

"The ship, Zenna! We can use that ship!" Hiccup replied.

"What ship?" I asked, even more baffled now.

Finally we got back to the spot where the abandoned long ship was.

"Oh, _that _ship!" I said, figuring out Hiccup's plan to use the ship to carry all the hatchlings back to Berk.

"Let's hurry and get to work!" Hiccup shouted and gave the dragons instructions to grab the ship by the ropes hanging around it.

The dragons immediately obeyed and soon had the ship up in the air. They then carried it back to the island where all the hatchlings were waiting. I got off Hookfang and did my part of the job-herding the hatchlings into the ship.

"Right this way, everyone. Now, no pushing, no shoving, no clawing, no scratching and no fire breathing, got it?" I said, gently herding the hatchlings into the ship. As soon as I did a full sweep of the island and made sure every dragon was accounted for, I got back on Hookfang.

"Every hatchling is present and accounted for, Hiccup." I reported to my best friend. "Then let's go home." Hiccup grinned and with that, we lifted the ship up with the adult dragons and flew back to Berk.

By the time we got back, it was already dark out. But you should've _seen _everyone's faces when we got back with all the dragons _and _their babies. It was such a heartwarming sight. That's also when they saw that a lot of houses were destroyed along with the huge Snoggletog tree in the village plaza.

"What happened here?" I wondered out loud. "Oh, nothing much. Except Astrid came up with a new Snoggletog tradition that involved hiding _exploding _dragon eggs in people's houses and they hatched!" Ruffnut replied, laughing at the blushing shield maiden.

I went over to Astrid, a knowing smirk on my face. "I can't believe you actually _messed something up!_" I said jokingly to her.

"Heh, yeah…Now I know how Hiccup feels whenever he messes up…" Astrid chuckled sheepishly.

"Well hey, everyone makes mistakes." Hiccup chuckled, coming over with Stormfly.

"Stormfly! You're back! Oh! And you have babies!" Astrid exclaimed, overjoyed as she petted her dragon and her hatchlings.

Suddenly I was hugged real tightly by my parents. "You and Hiccup brought the dragons back!" my Dad laughed, ruffling my hair. "And their babies too! Zenna, you and Hiccup are amazing!" my Mom smiled at me.

Thanks Mom. Thanks Dad." I wheezed out and then I heard Stoick announce, "Everyone! Grab your dragons and get to the Great Hall! We finally have something to celebrate!"

Everyone cheered and hustled to the Great Hall. Now the Snoggletog celebration could _really _begin!

"This is the best holiday ever! Uuuuhhhhh! Assa baby!" Fishlegs cooed to Meatlug's babies as they played.

Snotlout was holding one of Hookfang's hatchlings and giggled when the little guy burped out a flame spurt.

The Twins were goofing around with Barf and Belch's little ones, blowing random objects up with their antics.

Astrid was happily playing with Stormfly's hatchlings.

All the dragons were with their respective Viking companions, celebrating together…

As I watched everyone have fun, my parents approached me with a male maroon-colored and purple spotted Hideous Zippleback hatchling.

"Hey, Mom and Dad. Who's your new friend?" I asked them as I stroked the hatchling's two heads.

"This little one was wandering around the Great Hall, crying." Mom explained. "We took him to every Zippleback but they didn't accept him as their own. We fear he must have been abandoned." Dad said sadly.

"Oh, the poor baby!" I gasped.

The hatchling cooed at Mom and Dad, nuzzling them both.

"Can we keep him?" my parents both asked.

I blinked back in surprise. Since when did my parents need _my _permission?

"Uh…sure…What're you gonna name him?" I asked, smiling at both of my parents' puppy dog looks _and _the little Zippleback's heads reaching up to nip at my Dad's beard.

"How about _Serpent?_" my Dad offered, petting the left head. "And _Serpentine?_" my Mom suggested next, stroking the right head.

"Serpent and Serpentine…Those are good." I nodded.

Happy, my parents left with their dragon.

Yep, that's right. _Their _dragon.

"Looks like we're gonna need a new stable…" I chuckled to myself as Hiccup came over.

"Did I just see your parents with a baby Zippleback?" he asked me curiously. "Yep, it's their dragon now…" I answered, looking around and hoping to catch a glimpse of a one-eyed female Night Fury.

When I didn't, I sighed and turned to Hiccup. He smiled sadly and patted me on the shoulder. But even he looked really down.

Everyone had their dragons now…but where were _ours?_

Astrid then walked up to us. "Hiccup, Zenna, I know this must be really hard for you two seeing everyone with their dragons. But the both of you really did a wonderful thing! Thank you!" she thanked me with a hug while Hiccup got his second kiss on the lips from Astrid. I smirked mischievously as Hiccup was then hugged by Astrid.

"Astrid, where did Toothless go…?" Hiccup asked sadly. "And where's Stryka…?" I added, feeling sad all over again.

"I don't know…" Astrid sighed.

Hiccup and I just looked at each other and sighed sadly. We were really missing our two loveable Night Furies so much…

Suddenly Astrid told us, "Wow, man. I don't wanna be you two right now! I mean, the both of you brought back everyone's dragon except _yours!_" in a not really kind manner, by the way.

Hiccup and I both glared at her. "Yeah…You know this is not helping at all." Hiccup scowled. "Way to rub salt into the wound, Astrid…" I frowned.

Smiling, Astrid just turned us around in order to face two excited Night Furies lumbering over to us.

"_TOOTHLESS! Hey, bud!_"

"_STRYKA! Hey there, girl!_"

Hiccup and I ran over to our dragons to meet them halfway. When we got to Toothless and Stryka, Hiccup and I both took a second to just look at them before giving them hugs. Our dragons were finally back and we couldn't be any happier!

Then Hiccup and I decided to pretend to scold them.

"Bad dragon! Very bad dragon! You scared me to death. Don't ever stay away that long again…" Hiccup wagged a finger at Toothless.

"Stryka, you had me worried sick! And you didn't even say a proper good-bye…" I mock-scolded my playful dragoness.

"_And what is in your mouth?_" Hiccup and I both asked upon seeing that both Night Furies had something in their toothless mouths.

Toothless just put his head down and engulfed Hiccup's head in his mouth while Stryka dipped her head down low and spat something into my hands. I heard everyone voice out their disgust as I wiped the gobs of dragon spit off of whatever Stryka had retched onto my hands.

My eye widened when I saw the familiar black lightning bolt of Elias' shield.

"Eli's shield…? Oh my gods, Stryka you found his shield!" I exclaimed in awe.

"Yeah, you found my helmet." I heard Hiccup say and when I looked at him, his head was soaked in dragon saliva and adorned with his spittle covered helmet.

"What, hey! You found my helmet!" he exclaimed before looking at Toothless.

"That's where you've been?" Hiccup asked Toothless who warbled and nuzzled him. "You two gave up the chance of starting a family just to get our stuff back?" I asked Stryka who smiled a gummy smile and nodded.

"Buddy…Thank you! You are amazing."

"Thank you, Stryka…You are amazing."

With those words, Hiccup and I hugged our dragons again as everyone cheered.

"_Happy Snoggletog!_" Astrid called out.

Later that night, Hiccup and I were playing with Toothless and Stryka as everyone partied. Then Stryka looked at me.

"_Zzzeennwaa…talking hyuumaann isss hawrd…_" she told me.

Hiccup's eyes practically bulged out when he heard that while Toothless stared at his mate, his eyes as wide as plates.

"If it's hard for you Stryka, you don't _have to _talk human if you don't want to." I told my dragon who blinked and asked, "_Isss thaaat owkraaayy widd ywou?_"

"Of course, Stryka. Even if you can't talk to me, I know you always understand _and _I can understand you whether you speak human or not." I smiled at her, giving her a scratch behind her ears.

And with that, Stryka started warbling, crooning and growling in true dragon fashion once again. Toothless then managed to get over the shock of hearing her speak human and crooned to her affectionately.

"I can't believe I actually heard that…" Hiccup mumbled, awestruck. "Believe it, my friend because I think that was the last time she'll ever talk human." I laughed.

That's when Hiccup and I both remembered something.

Something important.

We quietly left the Great Hall with Toothless and Stryka and went back to our homes to get some things. We then met up at the docks and spent a few minutes there writing.

If you're wondering on what Hiccup and I are writing, allow me to explain dear reader.

Like I said before, when Elias died, Hiccup and I continued to uphold our little Snoggletog traditions.

One of those was writing letters to each other and exchanging them to read aloud before we did the gift exchange.

"Here you go, Hiccup." I grinned as I handed him an envelope with his name on it.

Hiccup took it and started reading.

'_Dear Hiccup,_

_It's hard to believe that just a few months ago, you were a fish-boney toothpick of a boy who was even capable of tripping over his own two feet._'

"Why thanks, Zen. I can definitely feel the love." Hiccup said sarcastically, making me giggle.

'_But now, while you're still pretty much a scrawny dude who now trips sometimes due to his metal foot, you are a hero among heroes._

_Something I always knew you were going to be._'

"Keep going, it gets better." I told Hiccup with a smile.

'_You've always been a hero to me, Hiccup. Nobody could be as smart, kind and gentle yet also valiant and courageous as you._

_You may not be the Viking everyone expects you to be. Rather you are a Viking who is different from all the rest. And like I've said to you before, I __**like **__different._

_My Snoggletog wish for you this year is that both you and Toothless will continue to grow closer and stronger together and that, no matter what, you will keep on being you._

_Well, I know that it's still pretty early to say this but…I will always be loyal to you, my beloved Chief. I know Elias would also pledge the same thing if he were still here with us…_'

"It _is _a little bit early to pledge your allegiance to me, Zenna." Hiccup chuckled. "Well there's no time like the present." I laughed.

'_Hiccup, you have stood by me for the past seven years. You were there for me when my brother passed away and never abandoned me when I was breaking and encouraged me to keep on going. I'll never be able to repay you for everything you've done for me._'

"You don't have to pay me back. Being friends with you is more than enough." Hiccup said softly before he read the last few lines.

'_As another Snoggletog ends, let me just say to you…Thank You for being the best human friend I've ever had and may we keep on being best friends as the years go by._

_Your One-Eyed Human Friend,_

_Zenna_'

"You added the '_human_' part because Stryka's also your best friend, didn't you?" Hiccup said knowingly. "Yeah, I did." I shrugged and then pulled out my Snoggletog gift for Hiccup.

"I got these from a trader a couple of weeks ago. They cost me a whole chest full of my healing salves but totally worth it." I told Hiccup as I handed him a big leather-bound journal and a set of fine charcoal pencils.

"Wow…Zen, this is wonderful…" Hiccup said, smiling at me. Then he handed me an envelope with my name on it. I eagerly opened it and began to read.

'_Dear Zenna,_

_Ever since I met you, my life's been a whole lot better. Back then, nobody wanted to be my friend because I was so…different._

_But you and your brother accepted me for who I was. I can never really tell you how grateful I am to the two of you for giving me a chance._'

"We didn't really give you a chance, Hicc. Eli and I immediately liked you the moment we first met you." I pointed out to my best friend.

'_While you are a little bit bossy…_'

"Hey!" I said in protest.

'…_and maybe a bit pushy,_'

"Really, dude?" I deadpanned.

'_you are the most amazing human friend a runt like me could ever ask for._'

"I see you also added the '_human_' part to your message." I commented and resumed reading.

'_Zenna, for the past seven years you have been my protector, defender, confidant and advisor in addition to being my friend. Words cannot express how happy I am to be yours. I'm sure Elias is so proud of you right now. Then again, he always was telling me and everyone else about how proud he was of you. And I bet he's telling all the gods and goddesses in Valhalla the same thing right now._'

"Elias always _did _sing praises about me." I said knowingly. "I bet he's up there with Odin telling him all about you right now." Hiccup agreed with me.

I then read the last few lines of the letter.

'_My wish for you this Snoggletog is that you and Stryka will continue to be brave, fierce and just plain awesome as you grow together. Valhalla knows that Toothless and I will still need you girls in the many adventures we'll have together in the future._

_But Zenna, really, thank you…for everything._

_Your One-Legged Human Friend,_

_Hiccup'_

"Did you look at my closing remark earlier?" I asked Hiccup who smiled cheekily. "Maybe…Anyways, your Snoggletog present…" Hiccup then took out from a bag he had with him…the most beautiful leather eye patch I had ever seen.

"It took me a while to make because I wanted it to be perfect. I think I spent three weeks working on it." Hiccup shrugged as I admired his handiwork.

The eye patch was made of strong black leather with a glossy finish and Hiccup had stitched a Night Fury emblem with a red tail fin that looked exactly like Toothless.

"Hiccup, this is just amazing…" I breathed out.

Hiccup and I both smiled at each other and then hugged each other tightly. No words were said but Hiccup and I both knew that we were so thankful and so lucky to have each other. Together, we will continue being best friends and have so many adventures with our two dragons.

"Happy Snoggletog, Hiccup." I said softly.

"Happy Snoggletog, Zenna." Hiccup whispered.

When we let go of each other, we both took out our letters for Elias.

"You go first." I told Hiccup who nodded and read aloud from his letter.

'_Hey Elias,_

_I know you __**already **__know that everything has changed here on Berk…But man, I really gotta tell you that everything __**has **__changed-for the better._

_You believed that Dragons and Vikings could get along…_

_And you were right._

_The dragons have finally been accepted into our world and life has really changed here. You would've loved Stryka. I'm pretty sure you and Zenna would've fought over who got to keep her. Toothless would've also loved to meet you. Zenna and I have been telling them about you actually._

_I wish you were still here, Eli. I bet you would have a blast flying with us._

_Flying is just…wow…I can't even describe the feeling. It's just too…wow…_

_Maybe you're flying in Valhalla right now and enjoying the company of the gods…_

_But if you're worried about me and Zenna, don't be. We're both okay, despite me missing a leg and your sister missing an eye, and we're doing fine._

_And I swear to all the gods and goddesses of Valhalla that I will protect Zenna as you and her have protected me. I will never, not ever, let anything happen to her as long as I live._

_Elias, you were like the older brother I never had and even if you're gone now…you still are._

_Happy Snoggletog, Elias._

_From Your Fishbone Brother,_

_Hiccup'_

"I'm sure Elias is looking down at us right now and laughing at how sappy we're being." I laughed, shaking my head and proceeded to read my letter to Elias.

'_My Dear Big Brother,_

_How are you? Is Valhalla good enough a paradise for you? Sometimes I wish that you hadn't gone ahead of me and Hiccup…Life would have been a lot more fun with you now that we've made peace with the dragons._

_And it's all thanks to you, Eli._

_You had a vision of a better world for all of us. It's just too bad you weren't given time to see it through…_

_But don't fret. Hiccup and I made it our mission to show to others what you believed in. And after we both experienced near brushes with death, we succeeded._

_I really wish you could be here with us, Eli…_

_Stryka would've loved you. I wish we could have both experienced flying…__**together**__._

_**I miss you, Eli…**_

_Your smile, your laugh, your crazed plans that always landed you, me and Hiccup into trouble…we both just really miss you so much._

_But we know that you're up there in Valhalla…always watching us and always protecting us._

_While I'm not yet ready to enter Valhalla, I __**am **__looking forward to seeing you again when my time comes._

_Eli, I love you big bro. You were and always will be the greatest older brother a younger sibling could ever ask for._

_Happy Snoggletog, Eli. I love you._

_Your Dear Baby Sister,_

_Zenna_'

"Zenna, are you crying…?" Hiccup asked me upon seeing the tears welling up in my eye. "A little…" I sniffled. Stryka warbled and comfortingly nuzzled me.

Hiccup and I then placed our letters to Elias in our envelopes, sealing them before getting on our dragons. We flew up, up, up until we were above the clouds where the wind was blowing in the right direction and at the right speed.

Before, Hiccup and I could only launch our letters either at the docks or at the highest peak in Berk. Now that we could fly thanks to Toothless and Stryka, we didn't have to worry about our letters floating back down to the village or floating into the sea…

High up in the sky, our letters were guaranteed to reach Valhalla.

"Ready?" I asked Hiccup.

"Ready." He nodded.

Together, we launched our letters into the air to be carried off by the wind. As the letters flew away, Hiccup and I both called out, "_Happy Snoggletog, Eliii!_"

Once we were done, the four of us flew back to the Great Hall to celebrate with everyone again and later went home and went to sleep, happy.

Happy to have had a great Snoggletog and, most of all, happy to be with Toothless and Stryka again.

That night I had a rather short dream but it was one of the best dreams I ever had.

Elias and I were with Stryka in front of the big wooden Snoggletog tree, singing corny holiday carols.

"_Oh, Snoggletog Tree…Oh, Snoggletog Tree…_

_Your wood so green and Viking-y…_" I sang out in my mellow alto voice.

"_Oh, Snoggletog Tree…Oh, Snoggletog Tree…_

_You're so Viking-y and woody…_" Elias then joined in with his slightly squeaky tenor toned voice.

"_Most people use trees this time of year…_

_Us Vikings use wood and shields…_

_Oh, Snoggletog Tree…Oh, Snoggletog Tree…_" we sang together and then Stryka crooned the last lines with,

"_Lwrah, wraah, wraah, raah…La, la, la!_"

After that, Eli and I just took the time to admire the tree as snowflakes whirled about in the cool evening air.

"You've done good, Zen. You've done good." Eli smiled and wrapped an arm around me. "Thanks, Eli. You've done good too." I grinned. Stryka warbled and sat between us, asking for cuddles.

"She's such a cuddler, isn't she?" Elias laughed, stroking her head. "Mm-hmmm…Stryka loves her cuddles." I smiled, petting my dragon who purred contentedly.

"Happy Snoggletog, sis." Elias said, kissing my forehead.

"Happy Snoggletog, Eli." I smiled as I leaned against his shoulder and fell asleep…

I woke up to Stryka's banging on the ceiling with a smile. "Coming, Stryka!" I chirped, getting out of bed and putting on my new eye patch.

Stryka greeted me with cuddles and licks as I put her saddle, eye patch and scarf on her. "Let's go see if the boys are up, shall we?" I asked Stryka who bobbed her head up and down excitedly and we both walked over to Hiccup's house.

Imagine our surprise when we saw Toothless thrashing his new tail fin!

"Toothless! Stop! What are you doing?!" Hiccup yelped as his Night Fury flung the now destroyed tail fin far away.

Toothless then nudged his old flying gear to Hiccup, with big, sympathetic green eyes that had, '_I wanna fly with you and only with you._' Written all over them.

"Hiccup…" I said, approaching my best friend and placed a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to look at me.

"I think Toothless would rather fly _with _you than without you." I pointed out, smiling.

Stryka warbled a greeting to Toothless and they both nuzzled each other affectionately before looking at me and Hiccup expectantly.

"Well, are we going to fly or not?" I asked Hiccup coyly.

After looking at me, Hiccup looked at Toothless and after letting the realization of how Toothless would rather want to need him in order to fly slowly…smiled.

'_Winter in Berk lasts most of the year. It hangs on with both hands and won't let go. And the only real comforts against the cold are those you keep close to your heart…_'

Hiccup, Toothless, Stryka and I are now flying, with Toothless happily sporting his old, bright red tail fin.

"Okay, bud? You're ready?" Hiccup gently patted Toothless. The male Night Fury warbled a happy response.

"Wanna try this, girl?" I asked Stryka who bounced gamely in mid-air.

Hiccup carefully unhooked his prosthetic and stood up on Toothless' back before somersaulting off his back shouting, "Yeeha!"

I followed shortly after whooping, "Yeah!" as I slid off Stryka's back.

The four of us freefell together, happy as we could be. At one point, Toothless and Stryka tapped us with their paws to make us spin in the air as we fell through the air.

'_Turns out that was the best Snoggletog ever. That year, Hiccup and I gave our best friends some pretty great gifts…_'

As we neared the ground we got back on the saddles and pulled up, the force shaking some snow off the trees.

"_Whoohoo!_" Hiccup and I both yelled out in delight as we flew on together with Toothless and Stryka.

'_They gave us a better one._'

And that gift Toothless and Stryka both gave to me and Hiccup that Snoggletog…was their everlasting friendship.

**-Zenna Fiersome**

**This was by far the longest chapter I had to write. Normally others would have split it into two parts but I wanna treat this story as a whole **

**Well, this is it for The Fiersome Chronicles guys. But don't worry, starting tomorrow I'll begin making drafts for the series **

**In the meantime, enjoy life and get excited for it is now officially JUNE!**

**How To Train Your Dragon 2 is coming!**

**-GuardianDragon98**


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